Full text of "Walker's appeal, in four articles, : together with a preamble to the colored citizens of the world, but in particular and very expressly to those of the United States of America. Written in Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, Sept. 28th, 1829"

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WALKER'S

APPEAL,

XW POUR ARTICLES

TOGETHER WITH

TO THE

CO&ORED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD,

BUT IX PABTICUIAH AND VEKY EWRMSLY TO THOSE OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Written in Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, Sept, S8th, 1829.

ffogtoti:

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR.
1829.

&■£ • ^f^fcD. t)7 *

APPEAL, &c.

My dearly beloved Brethren and Fellow Citizens —

Having travelled over a considerable portion of
these United States, and having in the course of my
travels taken the most accurate observation of things
as they exist — the result of my observations has war-
ranted the full and unshakened conviction, that we
(coloured people of these United States) are, the
most degraded, wretched and abject set of beings,
that ever lived since the world began, and I pray
God, that none like us ever may live until time
shall be no more. They tell us of the Israelites
in Egypt, the Helots in Sparta, and of the Ro-
man Slaves, which last, were made up from al-
most every nation under heaven, whose suffering*
under those ancient and heathen nations, were,
in comparison with ours, under this enlightened and
Christian nation, no more than a cypher — or in oth-
er words, those heathen nations of antiquity, had but
little more among them than the name and form of
slavery ; while wretchedness and endless miseries
were reserved, apparently in a phial, to be poured
out upon our fathers, ourselves, and our children by
Christian Americans.

These positions, I shall endeavour, by the help of
the Lord, to demonstrate in the course of this ap-
peal, to the satisfaction of the most incredulous
mind—and may God Almighty, who is the father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, open your hearts to under-
stand and believe the truth.

The causes my brethren, which produce our
wretchedness and miseries, are so very numerous and
aggravating, that I believe the pen only of a Jose-
phus or a Plutarch, can well enumerate and ex-
plain them. Upon subjects, then, of such incom-

prehensible magnitude, so impenetrable, and so noto-
rious, I shall be obliged to omit a large class of,
and content myself with giving you an exposi-
tion of a few of those which do indeed rage to such
an alarming pitch, that they cannot but be a perpet-
ual source of terror and dismay to every reflecting
mind.

I am fully aware, in making this appeal to my
much afflicted and suffering brethren, that I shall
not only be assailed by those whose greatest earthly
desires are, to keep us in abject ignorance and
wretchedness, and who are of the firm conviction
that heaven has designed us and our children, to be
slaves and beasts of burden to them and their chil-
dren.— I say I do not only expect to be held up to
the public as an ignorant, impudent and restless dis-
turber of the public peace, by such avaricious crea-
tures, as well as a mover of insubordination—
and perhaps put into prison or to death, for
giving a superficial exposition of our miseries, and
exposing tyrants. But I am persuaded, that many
of my brethren, particularly those who are ignorant-
ly in league with slave-holders or tyrants, who ac-
quire their daily bread by the blood and sweat of
their more ignorant brethren— and not a few of
those too, who are too ingnorant to see an inch be-
yond their nose, will rise up and call me cursed —
Yea, the jealous ones among us will perhaps use
more abject subtlety, by affirming that this work is
not worth perusing 5 that we are well situated and
there is no use in trying to better our condition, for
we cannot. I will only ask one question here — Can
our condition be any worse? Can it be more mean
and abject? If there are any changes, will they not be
for the better, though they may appear for the worst
at first? Can they get us any lower? Where can
they get us? They cannot treat us worse; for
they well know the day they do it they are gone. But
against all accusations, which may or can be prefer-

rod against me, I appeal to heaven for my mo-
tive in writing — who knows that my object is,
if possible to awaken in the breasts of my
afflicted, degraded and slumbering brethren, a
spirit of enquiry and investigation respecting our
miseries and wretchedness in this Republican land &f
Liberty!!!!!!

The sources from which our miseries are derived,
and on which I shall comment, I shall not combine
in one, but shall put them under distinct heads and
expose them in their turn ; in doing which, keeping
truth on my side, and not departing from the strict-
est rules of morality, I shall endeavour to penetrate,
search out, and lay them open for your inspection.
If you cannot or will not profit by them, I shall have
done my duty, to you, my country and my God.

And as the inhuman system of slavery, is the source
from which most of our miseries proceed, I shall be-
gin with that curse to nations 5 which has spread ter-
ror and devastation through so many nations of an-
tiquity, and which is raging to such a pitch at the
present day,in Spain and in Portugal. It had one tug-
in England, in France, and in the United States of
America, yet the inhabitants thereof, do not learn
wisdom, and erase it entirely from their dwellings
and from all with whom they have to do. The fact
is, the labor of slaves'comes so cheap to the avaricious
usurpers, and is of such great utility to the country
where it exists, that those who are actuated only by
sordid avarice, overlook the evils, which will as sure
as the Lord lives, follow after the good. In fact,
they are so happy to keep in ignorance and degrada-
tion, and to receive the homage and labor of the
slaves, they forget that Cod rules in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, "hav-
ing his ears continually open to the cries, tears and
groans of his oppressed people. And being a just and
holy Being will at one day appear fully in behalf
of the oppressed, and arrest the progress of the ava-
ricious oppressors ; for although the destruction of

the oppressors God may not effect by the oppressed,
yet the Lord our God will bring other destructions
upon them — for not unfrequently will he cause them
to rise up one against another, to be split and divi-
ded, and to oppress each other, and sometimes to
open hostilities with sword in hand. Some may ask
what is the matter with this united and happy people?
Some say it is caused by political usurpers, tyrants,
oppressors, &,c. But has not the Lord an oppressed
and suffering people among them? Does the Lord
condescend to hear their cries, and see their tears
in consequence of oppression? Will he let the op-
pressors rest comfortably and happy always? Will
he not cause the very children of the oppressors to
rise up against them, andoftimes put them to death?
God works in many ways his wonders to perform.

I will not here speak of the destructions which
the Lord brought upon Egypt, in consequence of
the oppression and consequent groans of the oppres-
sed— of the hundreds and thousands of Egyptians
whom God hurled into the Red Sea for afflicting
his people in their land — of the Lord's suffering
people in Sparta or Lacedemon, the land of the
truly famous Lycurgus — nor have I time to comment
upon the cause which produced the fierceness with
which ^ylla usurped the title, and absolutely acted
as dictator of the Roman people — the conspiracy of
Cataline — the conspiracy against, and murder of
Caesar in the Senate house — The spirit with which
Marc Antony made, himself master of the Common-
wealth— His associating Octavius and Lipidus with
himself in power — Their dividing the provinces
of Rome among themselves — their attack and de-
feat on the plains of Phillippi the last defend-
ers of their liberty, (Brutus and Cassius) — the tyrra-
ny of Tiberius — and from him to the final overthrow
of Constantinople by the Turkish Sultan, Mahom-
ed, II. A. D. 1453. I say I shall not take up time
to speak of the causes which produced so much

wretchednes and massacre among those heathen na-
tions, for I am well aware that you know too well
that God is just, as well as merciful. I shall call your
attention a few moments to that Christian nation
the Spaniards — while I shall leave almost unno-
ticed, that avaricious and cruel people, the Portu-
guese, among whom, all true hearted Christians and
lovers of Jesus Christ,, must evidently see the judg-
ments of God displayed.

To shew the judgments of God upon the Span-
iards, I shall ocupy but little time, leaving a plenty
of room for the candid and unprejudiced to reflect.

All persons who are acquainted with history and
particularly the Bible, who are not blinded by the
God of this world, and are not actuated by an ava-
ricious spirit— who are able to lay aside prejudice
long enough to view candidly and impartially, things
as they were, are, and probably will be — who
are willing to admit that God made man to
serve Him alone, and that man should have no other
Lord or Lords but Himself, that God Almighty is the
sole proprietor or master of the whole human fami-
ly, and will not on any consideration admit of a col-
league, being unwilling to divide his glory with an-
other.— And who can dispense with prejudice long
enough to admit that we are men, notwithstand-
ing our improminent noses and woolly heads, and
believe that we feel for our fathers, mothers, wives
and children, as well as they do for theirs. I say
all who are permitted to see and believe these things
can easily recognize the judgments of God anions
the Spaniards. Though others may lay the cause of
the fierceness with which they cut each others throats
to some other circumstance, yet they who believe
that God is a God of justice, will believe that Sla-
very is the principal cause.

While the Spaniards are running about upon the
field of battle cutting each others throats, has not
the Lord an afflicted and suffering people in the midst
#f them, whose cries and groans in consequence of

oppression are continually pouring into the ears of
the God of justice? Would they not cease to cut
each others throats if they could? But how can they?
The very support which they draw from government
to aid them in cutting each other's throats, does it
not arise in a great degree from t;he wretched victims
of oppression among them? And yet they are call-
ing for Peace ! — Peace ! Will any peace be given
unto them? Their destruction may indeed be pro-
crastinated awhile, but can it continue long, while
they are oppressing the Lord's people? Has he not
the hearts of all men in his hand? Will he suffer
one part of his creatures to go on oppressing and
treating another like brutes, always, with impunity?
And yet^ these avaricious wretches are calling for
Peace ! ! ! I I declare, it does appear to me, as
though some nations think God is asleep, or that he
made the Africans for nothing else but to dig their
mines and work their farms, or they cannot believe
history, sacred or profane. I ask every man who has
a heart and is blessed with the privilege of believing—
Is not God, a God of justice to all his creatures? —
Do you say he is? Then if he gives peace and
tranquility to tyrants, and permits them to keep our
fathers, our mothers, ourselves and our children in
eternal ignorance and wretchedness, would he be to
us a God of justice? I ask, O ! ye Christians, who
hold us and our children in the most abject ignorance
and degradation, that ever a people were afflicted
with since the world began — I say, if God gives you
peace and tranquility and suffers you thus to go on,
afflicting us and our children, who have never given
you the least provocation — would he be to us a God
of justice? Ifyou^will allow that we are men, who
feel for each other, does not the blood of our fathers
and of us their children cry aloud to the Lord of
Sabaoth against you for the cruelties with which
you have and do continue to afflict us. But it is time
for me to close my remarks on the suburbs just to en-

tor more fully into the interior of this system of cruel-
ty and oppression.

ARTICLE 1.

OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF SLA-
VERY.

My beloved brethren : — The Indians of North and
of South America — the Greeks— the Irish, subjected
under the king of Great Britain — the Jews, that an-
cient people of the Lord—the inhabitants of the
Islands of the Sea — in fine, all the inhabitants of the
Earth, (except, however the sons of Africa) are cal-
led men, and of course are, and ought to be free. —
But we, (colored people,) and our children are brutes,
and of course are,and ought to be slaves to the Ameri-
can people and their children, forever — to dig their
mines and work their farms ; and thus go on enrich-
ing them, from one generation to another with our
blood and our tears ! ! ! ! ! !

I promised in a preceding page, to demonstrate
to the satisfaction of the most incredulous, that we,
(coloured people of these United States of America)
are the most wretched, degraded and abject set
of beings that ever lived since the world began. —
And that the white Americans having reduced us to
the wretched state of slavery treat us in that condition
more cruel (they being an enlightened and Chris-
tian People, ) than any Heathen Nation did any
People whom it had reduced to our condition.—
These affirmations are so well confirmed in the minds
of all unprejudiced men, who have taken the trouble
to read Histories, that they need no elucidation from
me, but to put them beyond all doubt ; I refer you
in the first place to the children of Jacob, or of Israel
in Egypt, under Pharoah and his people. — Some of
my Brethren do not know who Pharoah and the
Egyptians were — I know it to be a fact, that some of
them take the Egyptians 'to have been a gang of Dev-

ils,not knowing any better,and that they (Egyptians)
having got possesson of the Lord's people, treated
them nearly as cruel as Christian Americans do us
at the present day. For the information of such, I
would only mention that the Egyptians, were Af-
ricans, or coloured people, such as we are — some
of them yellow, and others dark— a mixture of Ethi-
opians and the natives of Egypt— about as you see
the coloured people in the United States at the pres-
ent day. I say, I call your attention then, to the
children of Jacob, while I point out particularly to
you his son Joseph, among the rest, in Egypt.

" And Pharaoh, said unto Joseph, thou shalt be
" over my house, and according unto thy word shall
u all my people be ruled : only in the throne will I
" be greater than thou.55*

"" And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set
" thee over all the land of Egypt. "f

" And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh,
" and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or
" foot in all the land of Egypt." J

Now, I appeal to Heaven and to Earth, and par-
ticularly to the American People themselves, who
cease not to declare that our condition is not hard
and that we are, comparatively, satisfied to rest in
wretchedness and misery, under them and their chil-
dren.— Not, indeed, to show me a coloured Presi-
dent, a Governor, a Legislator, a Senator, a Mayor,
or an Attorney at the Bar. — But to show me a man
of colour, who holds the low office of a constable,
or one who sits in a Juror Box, even on a case of
one of his wretched brethren, throughout this great
Republic !! — But let us pass Joseph the son of Isra-
el a little farther in review, as he existed with that
heathen nation.

" And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-
"paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the
" daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph
"went out over all the land of Egypt. "||

*See Genesis, chap. xli. v. 40. | v- 41- tv«44- IIV- 46-

Compare the above, with the American institu-
tions. Do they not institute laws to prohibit us from
marrying among the whites? I would wish, candidly,
however, before the Lord, to be understood, that I
would not give a, pinch of snuff to be married to any
white person I ever saw in all the days of my life. And
I do say it, that the black man, or man of colour,
who will leave his own colour (provided he can get
one, who is good for any thing) and marry a white
woman, to be a double slave to her, just because
she is white, ought to be treated by her, as he surely
will be, viz : as a JVeger! ! ! ! It is not,indeed, what I
care about inter-marriages with the whites, which
induced me to pass this subject in review ; for the
Lord knows, that there is a day coming when they
will be glad to get into the company of the blacks,
notwithstanding we are, in this generation, levelled
by them, almost on a level with the brute creation :
and some of us they treat even worse than they do
the brutes that perish. I only made this extract to
show how much lower, we are held, and how much
more cruel we are treated by the Americans, than
were the children of Jacob by the Egyptians. — We
will notice the sufferings of Israel some farther, com-
pared with ours, under the enlightened Americans.

" And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, thy
" father and thy brethren are come unto thee :"

" The land of Egypt is before thee : in the best
-" of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell 5
i? in the land of Goshen let them dwell : and if thou
" knowest any men of activity among them, then
"make them rulers over my cattle.5 ?#

I ask those people who treat us so well. Oh ! I ask
them, where is the most barren spot of land which
they have given unto us? Israel had the most fer-
tile land in all Egypt. Meed I mention the very
notorious fact, that I have known a poor man of
colour, who laboured night and day, to acquire a

* Genesis, xlvii.— ~ v.

little money, arid .having acquired it, he vested it
in a small piece of land, and got him a house erect-
ed thereon, and having paid for the whole he
moved his family into it, where he was suffered to

remain but nine months when he was cheated out of
his property by a white man, and driven out of door.
And is not this the case generally? Can a man of
color buy a piece of land and keep it peacably ? Will
not some white man try to get it from him, even if
it is in a mud hole? I need not comment any far-
ther on a subject which a!l9 both black and white
will readily admit. But I must, really, observe that
in this very city, when a man of colour dies, if he
owned any real estate it most generally falls into
the hands of some white person — the wife and chil-
dren of the deceased may weep and lament if they
please, but the estate will be kept snug enough by
its. white possessor.

But to prove farther that the condition of the Is-
raelites was better under the Egyptians than
ours is under the whites. I call upon the profess-
ing Christians, I call upon the Philanthropist, I call
upon the very tyrant himself, to show me a page of
history, either sacred or profane, on which a verse
can be found which maintains, that the Egyptians
heaped the insupportable insult upon the children of
Israel, by telling them that they were not of the hu-
man family. Can the whites deny this charge? Have
they not, after having reduced us to the deplorable
condition of slaves, under their feet, held us up, as
descending originally from the tribes of Monkies,
or Orang-Outangs ? O ! my God.! I appeal toev-
ry man of feeling — is not this insupportable ? Is it
not heaping the most gross insult upon our miseries, '
because they have got us under their feet, and we
cannot help ourselves ? O ! pity us we pray thee,
Lord Jesus, Master.— Has Mr. Jefferson declared
to the world, that we are inferiour to the whites,
both in the endowments of our bodies and of minds ?
It is indeed surprising, that a man of such great

learning, combined with such excellent natural ptu*t£,
should speak so of a set of men in chains. I do not
know what to compare it to, unless, like putting one
wild deer in an iron cage, where it will be secured.

& hold another by the side of the same, then let it go,
and expect the one in the cage to run as fast as the
one at liberty. — So far my brethren, were the Egypt-
ians from heaping these insults upon their slaves,
that Pharaoh's daughter, took Moses, a son of Is-
rael for her own, as will appear by the following.

" And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, take this
" child away, and nurse it for me, and I will pay
" thee thy wages. And the woman took the child
" [Moses] and nursed it."

" And the child grew, and she brought him unto
" Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And
"she called his name Moses : and she said because
" I drew him out of the water.55*

In all probability, Moses would have become
Prince Regent to the throne, and no doubt in pro-
cess of time but he would have been seated on the
throne of Egypt. But he had rather suffer shame,
with the people of God, than to enjoy pleasures with
that "wicked people, for a season. O ! that the col-
oured people were long since of Moses5 excellent
disposition, instead of courting favor with, and tell-
ing news and lies to our natural enemies, against
each other— aiding them to keeptheir hellish chains of
slavery upon us. Would we not long before this time
have been respectable men, instead of such wretch-
ed victims of oppression as we are? Would they be
able to drag our mothers, our fathers, our wives, our
children and ourselves, around the world in chains
and hand-cuffs, as they do, to dig up gold and silver
for them and theirs ? This question, my brethren, I
leave for you to digest ; and may God Almighty force
it home to your hearts. Remember, that unless you
are united, keeping your tongues within your teeth,

*See Exodus, chap. ii. v 9, 10,

you will be afraid to trust your secrets to each oth-
er, and thus perpetuate our miseries under the Chris-
tians !!!!! !

I saw a paragraph, a few years since, in a South
Carolina paper which, speaking of the barbarity of
the Turks, it said "The Turks are the most barbar-
" ous people in the world— they treat the Greeks
"more like brutes than human beings." And in
the same paper was an advertisement, which said :
" Eight well built Virginia and Maryland Negro fel-
" lows, and 4 wenches, will positively be sold, this
"day, to the highest bidder !?? And what astonish-
ed me still more, was, to see in this same humane
paper ! ! the cuts of three men, with clubs and budg-
ets on their backs, and an advertisement, offering a
considerable sum of money for their apprehension,
and delivery. I declare,' it is really so funny to hear
the Southerners and Westerners of this country
talk about barbarity, that it is, positively enough to
make a man smile.

The suffering of the Helots among the Spartans,
were somewhat severe it is true, but to say that
theirs, were as severe as ours among the Americans,
I do most strenuously deny — for instance, can any
man show me an article on a page of ancient histo-
ry, which specifies, that, the Spartans chained, and
hand-cuffed the Helots, and draged them from their
wives and children, children from their parents, mo-
thers from their suckling babe?, wives from their
husbands, driving them from one end of the country
to the other ? Notice the Spartans were heathens,
who lived long before our Divine Master made
his appearance in the flesh. Can Christian
Americans deny these barbarous cruelties ? Have
you not Americans, having us subjected under you,
added to these miseries, by insulting us in telling
us to our face, because we are helpless, that we arc
not of the human family ? I ask you, O ! Ameri-
cans, I ask you, in the name of the Lord,
can you deny these charges ? Some perhaps
may deny, by saying, that they never thought

or said that we were not men. But do not actions
speak louder than words ? — have they not made
provisions for the Greeks, and Irish ? Nations who
have never done the least thing for them, while we,
who have enriched their country with our blood and
tears — have dug up gold and silver for them and
their children, from generation to generation, and
are in more miseries than any other people under
heaven, are not seen, but by comparatively, a hand-
full of the American people ? There are indeed,
more ways to kill a dog, besides choaking it to
death with butter. Further — The Spartans or La-
cedemonians, had some frivolous pretext, for enslav-
ing the Helots, for they (Helots) while being free
inhabitants of Sparta, stirred up an intestine com-
motion, and were, by the Spartans subdued, and
made prisoners of war. Consequently they and
their children were condemned to perpetual slavery.*
I have been for years troubling the pages of his-
torians, to find out what our fathers have done to
the Americans, to merit such condign punishment as
they have inflicted on them, and do contrive to in-
flict on us their children. But I must aver, that
my researches have hitherto, been to no effect. I
have therefore, come to the immovable conclusion,
that they (Americans) have, and do continue to
punish us for nothing else, but for enriching them
and their country. For I cannot conceive of any
thing else. Nor will I ever believe otherwise, un-
til the Lord shall convince me.

The world knows that slavery as it existed among
the Romans, (which was the primary cause of their
destruction) was comparatively speaking, no more
than a cipher, when compared with ours, under the
Americans. Indeed, I should not have noticed the
Roman slaves, had not the very learned and pene-
trating, Mr. Jefferson said, U when a master was
" murdered, all his slaves in the same house, or

* See Dr. Goldsmith's History of Greece — page 9. See also,
Plutarch's Lives. The Helots subdued by Agis, king of Sparta.

a within hearing, were condemned to death."*—
Here let me ask Mr. Jefferson, (but he is gone to
answer at the bar of God, for the deeds done in his
body while living,) I therefore ask the whole Amer-
ican people had I not rather die, or be put to death,
than to be a slave to any -tyrant, who takes not only
my own>but my wife and children's lives by inches?
Yea, would I meet death with avidity far ! far ! !
in preference to such servile submission to the mur-
derous hands of tyrants. Mr. Jefferson's very severe
remarks on lis have been so extensively argued
upon by men whose attainments in literature, I
shall never be able to reach, that I would not have
meddled with it, were it not to solicit each of my
brethren, who has the spirit of a man, to buy a copy
of Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, and put it in
the hand of his son. For let no one of us suppose
that the refutations which have been written by our
white friends are enough — they are whites, we are
blacks. We, and the world wish to see the char-
ges of Mr. Jefferson refuted by the blacks them-
selves, according to their chance ; for we must re-
member, that what the whites have written respect-
ing this subject, is other men's labors, and did not
eminate from the blacks. I well know, that there
is some talents and learning among the coloured peo-
ple of this country, which we have not a chance to
develope, in consequence of oppression ; but our
oppression ought not to hinder us from acquiring ail
we can. — For we will have a chance to develope
them by and by. God will not suffer us, always, to
be oppressed — our sufferings will come to an end,
in spite of all the Americans this side of eternity. —
Then we will want all the learning and talents
among ourselves, and perhaps more, to govern our-
selves.— " Every dog must have its day," the Ameri-
can's is coming to a close.

But let us review Mr. Jefferson's remarks respect-
ing us some further. — Comparing our miserable fa-
thers, with the learned philosophers of Greece, he

*Sec his Notes on Virginia, page, 210.

says, f " Yet notwithstanding these and other dis-
" couraging circumstances among the Romans, their
" slaves were often their rarest artists. They excel-
" led too, in science, insomuch as to be usually em-
" ployed as tutors to their masters children ; Epic-
"tetus, Terence and Phsedrus, were slaves, — .
" but they were of the race of whites. It is not their
"condition, then, but nature which has produced the
" distinction.5'— See this, my brethren ! ! Do you be-
live that this assertion is swallowed by millions of
the whites? Do you know that Mr. Jefferson was
one of as great characters as ever lived among the
whites? See his writings for the world, and public
labors for the U. S. of America. Do you believe that
the assertions of such a man, will pass away into
oblivion unobserved by this people and the world?
If you do you are much mistaken — See how the
American people treat us — have we souls in our bod-
ies? are we men, who have any spirits at all ? I
know that there arejnahy swell-bellied fellows among
us, whose greatest object is to fill their stomachs. —
Such I do not mean — I am after those who know
and feel, that we are men, as well as other people ;
to them, I say, that unless we try to refute Mr. Jef-
ferson's arguments respecting us, we will only estab-
lish them.

But the slaves among the Romans. Every body
who has read history, knows| "hat as soon as a slave
among the Romans obtained his freedom, he could
rise to the greatest eminence in the State, and there
was no law instituted to hinder a slave from buying
his freedom. Have not the Americans instituted
laws to hinder us from obtaining our freedom? Do
any deny this charge? Read the laws of Virginia,
North Carolina, &c. Further, have not the Ameri-
cans instituted laws to prohibit a man of colour from
obtaining and holding any office, whatever, under
the government of the U. States of America? Now,
Mr. Jefferson tells us, that our condition is not so
hard, as the slaves were under the Romans !!!!!!

*See his notes on Virginia, page 211.
C

It is time for me to bring thi^ article to a close.--
But before I close it, I must observe to my brethren
that at the close of the first Revolution in this coun-
try, with Great Britian, there were but thirteen
States in the Union, now there are twenty four, most
of which are, slave-holding States, and the whites are
draging us around in chains and in hand-cuffs to their
new States and Territories to work their mines and
farms, to enrich them and their children — and mil-
lions of them believing firmly that we being a little
darker than they, were made by our creator to be
an inheritance to them and their children forever — >
the same as a parcel of brutes ! ! i ! '

Are welmen? — I ask you, O! my brethren, are
we men? Did our creator make us to be slaves to
dust and ashes like ourselves? Are they not dying
worms as well as we? Have they not to make their
appearance before the tribunal of heaven, to answer
for the deeds done in the body, as well as we?—
Have we any other master but Jesus Christ, alone?
Is he not their master as well as ours? What right
then, have we to obey and call any other master but
himself? How we could be so submissive to a
gang of men, whom we cannot tell whether they are
as good as ourselves, or not, I never could con-
ceive. However, this is shut up with the Lord and
we cannot precisely tell — but I declare, we judge
men by their works.

The whites have always been an unjust, jealous,
unmerciful, avaricious and blood-thirsty set of be-
ings, always seeking after power and authority. —
W^ view them all over the Confederacy of Greece,
where they were first known to be any thing, (in
consequence of education) we see them there, cut-
ting each other's throats — trying to subject each
other to wretchedness and misery — to effect which,
they used all kinds of deceitful, unfair, and unmer-
ciful means. — We view them next in Rome, where
the spirit of tyranny and deceit raged still higher. —
We view them in Gaul, Spain and in Britain —
m fine we view them all over Europe, togeth

er with what were scattered about in Asia and
Africa, as heathens, and we see them acting more
like Devils than accountable men. But some may
ask, did not the blacks of Africa, and the Mullattoes
of Asia go on in the same way, as did the whites
of Europe. I answer, No — They never were half
so avaricious, deceitful and unmerciful as the whites,
according to their knowledge.

But we will leave the whites or Europeans
as heathens, and take a view of them as christians, in
which capacity we see them as cruel, if not more so,
than ever. In fact, take them as a body, they are
ten times more cruel, avaricious and unmerciful than
ever they were ; for while they were heathens, they
were bad enough, it is true, but it is positively a
fact, that they were not quite so audacious as to go
and take vessel loads of men, women and children,
and in cold blood, and through devilishness, —
throw them into the sea, and murder them in all kind
of ways. While they were heathens, they were too
ignorant for such barbarity. But being Christians,
enlightened and sensible, they are completely pre-
pared for such hellish cruelties. Now suppose God
were to give them more sense, what would they do ?
If it were possible would they not dethrone Jehovah
and seat themselves up on his throne ? I therefore,
in the name and fear of the Lord God of heaven and
of earth, divested of prejudice either on the side of my
colour or that of the whites, advance my suspicion of
them, whether they are as good by nature as we are
or not. Their actions, since they were known as a
people, have been the reverse, I do indeed suspect
them, but this as I before observed is shut up with
the Lord, we cannot exactly tell, it will be proved
in succeeding generations. The whites have had
the essence of the gospel as it was preached by my
master and his apostles — the Ethiopians have not,
who are to have it in its meridian splendor — the
Lord will give it to them, to their satisfaction. I
hope and pray my God, that they will make good
use of it, that it may be well with them.

20
ARTICLE 2.

OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE 01* IGNO-
RANCE.

Ignorance, my brethren, is a mist, low down into
the very dark, and almost impenetrable abyss of
which, our fathers for many centuries have been
plunged. The Christians, and enlightened of Eu-
rope, and some of Asia, seeing the ignorance and
consequent degradation of our fathers, instead of
trying to enlighten them, by teaching them, that re-
ligion, and light with which God had blessed them,
they have plunged them into wretchedness ten thou-
sand times more intolerable, than if they had left
them entirely to the Lord, and to add to their mise-
ries, deep down into which they have plunged them,
tell them, that they are an inferiour and distinct race
of beings. Which they will be glad enough to recal
and swallow by and by. Fortune and misfortune,
two inseparable companions, lay roled up in the
wheel of events, which have from the creation of
the world, and will continue to take place among
men until God shall dash worlds together.

When we take a retrospective view of the Arts
and Sciences— the wise legislators, the Pyramids,
and other magnificient buildings, the turning of the
channel of the river Nile, by the sons of Africa or
of Ham, among whom learning originated, and was
carried thence into Greece, where it was improved
upon and refined. Thence among the Romans, and
all over the then enlightened parts of the world,
and it has been enlightening the dark and benight-
ed minds of men from then, down to this day.
I say, when I view retrospectively, the renown of
that once mighty people, the children of our great
progenitor I am indeed cheered. Yea further, when
I view that mighty son of Africa, Hannibal, one of
the greatest generals of antiquity, who defeated and
cut off so many thousands of the white Romans or
murderers, and who, carried his victorious arms,

to the very gates of Rome, and I give it as my can-
did opinion, that, had Cartharge been well united
and had given him good support, he would have car-
ried that cruel and barbarous city by storm. But
they were disunited, as the coloured people are now
in the United States of America, the reason our
natural enemies are enabled to keep their feet on
our throats.

Beloved brethren— here let me tell you and be-
lieve it, that the Lord our God, as true as he sits
on his throne in heaven, and as true as our Saviour >
died to redeem the world, will give you a Hannibal,
And when the Lord shall have raised him up, and
given him to you for your possession. Oh ! my suf-
fering brethren, remember the divisions and conse-
quent sufferings of Carthage and of Hay ti. Read
the History particularly of Hayti, and see how they
were butchered by the whites, and do you take
warning. The person whom God shall give you,
give him your support, and let him go his length,
and behold in him, the salvation of your God. God
will indeed, deliver you through him, from your de-
plorable and wretched condition, under the Chris-
tians of America. I charge you this day before my
God to lay no obstacle in his way, but let him go.

The whites want slaves, and want us for their
slaves, but some of them will curse the day they ev-
er saw us. As true as the Sun ever shone in its
meridian splendour, my colour will root some of
them out of the very face of the earth. They shall
have enough of making slaves of, and butchering, and
murdering us in the manner which they have. No
doubt some may say that I write with a bad spirit,
and that I being a black, wish these things to occur.
Whether I write with a bad or a good spirit, I
say if these things do not occur in their proper
time, it is because the world in which we live
does not exist, and we are deceived with regard
to its existence. It is immaterial however to me,
who believe or who refuse — though I should like to

see the whites repent peradvanture God may have
mercy on them, some however, have gone so far that
their cup must be filled.

But what need have I to refer to antiquity, when
Hayti, the glory of the blacks and terror of tyrants,
is -enough to convince the most avaricious and stu-
pid of wretches—which is at this time, and I am sor-
ry to say it, plagued with that scourge of nations,
the Catholic Religion; but I hope, and pray God
that she may yet rid herself of it, and adopt in its
stead the Protestant faith ; also, I hope that she
may keep peace within her borders and be united —
keeping a strict look out for tyrants, for if they
get the least chance to injure them, they will avail
themselves of it, as true as the Lord lives in heaven.
But one thing which gives me joy is, that they are
men who would be cut off to a man, before they
would yield to the combined forces of the world —
in fact, if the whole world was combined against
them, it could not do any thing with them unless the
Lord delivers them up.

Ignorance and Treachery one against an other — a
servile and abject submission to the lash of tyrants,
we see plainly, my brethern, are not the natural el-
ements of the blacks, as the Americans try to make
us believe — But these are misfortunes which God
has suffered our fathers to be enveloped in for many
ages, no doubt in consequence of their disobedience
to their Maker, and which do, indeed, reign at this
time among us, almost to the destruction of all oth-
er principles. — For I must truly say, that ignorance
the mother of treachery and deceit gnaws into our
very vitals. Ignorance, as it now exists among us,
produces a state of things, Oh my God! too horri-
ble to present to the world. Any man who is curi-
ous to see the full force of ignorance developed
among the coloured people of the U. S. of Amer-
ica has only to go into the Southern and Western
States of this confederacy, where if he is not a ty-
rant, but has the feelings of a human being who can

feel / for a fellow creature, he may see enough to
make his very heart bleed — He may see there, a son
take his mother, who bore almost the pains of death
to give him birth, and by the command of a tyrant,
strip her as naked as she came into the world and
apply the cow-hide to her until she falls a victim to
death in the road — he may see a husband take his
dear wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state and
perhaps far advanced, and beat her for an unmerci-
ful wretch, until his infant falls a lifeless lump at
her feet. Can the Americans escape God Almigh-
ty? If they do, can he be to us a God of justice?
God is just, and I know it — for he has convinced me
to my satisfaction — I cannot doubt him. My obser-
ver may see fathers beating their sons, mothers their
daughters and childrenjtheir parents, all to pacify
the passions of unrelenting tyrants — He may also,
see them telling news and lies, making mischief one
upon another. These are some of the productions
of ignorance which he will see practised among my
dear brethren who are held in unjust slavery and
wretchedness by avaricious and unfeeling tyrants,
to whom, and their hellish deeds, I would suffer my
life to be taken before I would submit. And when
my curious observer comes to take notice of those
who are said to be free, (which assertion I deny)
and who are making some frivolous pretensions to
common sense, he will see that branch of ignorance
among the slaves assuming a more cunning and de-
ceitful course of procedure.—He may see some of
my brethren in league with tyrants, selling their
own brethren into hell upon earth, not dissimilar to
the exhibitions in Africa, but in a more secret, ser-
vile and abject manner. Oh Heaven ! I am full ! ! !
I cannot hardly move my pen!!!!! As I expect
some will try to put me to death, to strike terror in-
to others and to obliterate from their minds the no-
tion of freedom, so as to keep my brethren the more
secure in wretchedness, where they will be permit-
ted to stay but a short time (whether tyrants believe

it or not)— I shall give the world a development
of facts, which are already witnessed in the courts
of heaven. My observer may see some of those ig-
norant and treacherous creatures (coloured people)
sneaking about in the large Cities, endeavouring to
find out all strange coloured people — where they
work and where they reside, asking them questions
and trying to ascertain whether they are runaways
or not, telling them at the same time that they al-
ways have been, are, and always will be friends to
their brethren and perhaps that they themselves,
are absconders, and a thousand such treacherous
lies to get the better information of the more ignor-
norant ! ! ! ! There have been, and are this day in
Boston, New- York, Philadelphia and Baltimore,
coloured men, who are in league with tyrants and
who receive a great portion of their daily bread, of
the moneys which they acquire from the blood and
tears of their more miserable brethren, whom they
scandalously delivered into the hands of our natural
enemies.!!!!!!

To show the force of degraded ignorance and de-
ceit among us some farther, I will here give an ex-
tract from a paragraph which may be found in the
Columbian Centinel of this City, for September 9,
1829, on the first page of which, the curious may
find an article headed

"affray and murder,"

"Portsmouth, (Ohio,) Aug. 22.

"A most shocking outrage was committed in
" Kentucky, about eight miles from this place, on
" the 14th inst. A negro driver by the name of
" Gordon, who had purchased in Maryland about
Y sixty negroes, was taking them, assisted by an as-
sociate named Allen, and the wagonner whocon-
" veyed the baggage, to the Mississippi, The men
" were hand-cuffed and chained together in the usual
" manner for driving those poor wretches, while the
" women and children were suffered to proceed with-
"out incumbrance. It appears, that by means of a

" file the negroes, unobserved, had succeeded in
" separating the irons which bound their hands, in
" such a way as to be able to throw them off at any
" moment. About 8 o'clock in the morning, while
" proceeding on the State road leading from Green-
" up to Vanceburg, two of them dropped their shack-
" les and commenced a fight, when the wagonner
" (Petit) rushed in with his whip to compel them to
" desist. At this moment every negro was found
" to be perfectly at liberty 5 and one of them seizing
"a club, gave Petit a violent blow on the head and
"laid him dead at his feet ; and Allen who came
" to his assistance, met a similar fate, from the con-
" tents of a pistol fired by another of the gang.- —
" Gordon was then attacked, seized and held
" by one of the negroes, whilst another fired twice
" at him with a pistol, the ball of which, each time
" grazed his head, but not proving effectual, Jhe was
"beated with clubs and left for dead. They then
"commenced pillaging the wagon, and with an
" axe split open the trunk of Gordon, and rifled it
" of the money, about $2„400. Sixteen of the ne-
" groes then took to the woods ; Gordon in the
" mean time, not being materially injured, was en-
" abled by the assistance of one of the women to
"mount his horse and flee; pursued however by
" one of the gang on another horse, with a drawn
" pistol ; fortunately he escaped with his life barely,
" arriving at a plantation as the negro came in sight ;
" who then turned about and retreated.

"The neighbourhood was immediately rallied,
" and a hot pursuit given — which we understand has
" resulted in the capture of the whole gang and
"the recovery of the greatest part of the money. —
" Seven of the negro men and one woman, it is
"said were engaged in the murders, and will be
" brought to trial at the next court in Greensupsburg,

Here my brethren, I want you to notice particu-
larly in the above article, the ignorant and deceitful
actions of this coloured woman. I beg you to view

it candidly as for eternity ! ! ! ! Here a notorious
wretch, with two other confederates had sixty of
them in a gang, driving them like brutes — the men
all in chains and hand-cuffs, and by the help of
G od they got their chains and hand-cuffs thrown off
and caught two of the wretches and put them to death,
and beat the other until they thought he was dead,
and left him for dead, however the wretch deceived
them, and rising from the ground this servile wo-
man helped him upon his horse, and he made his es-
cape. Brethren, what do you think of this? Was
it the natural fine feelings of this woman, to save
such a wretch alive? I know that the blacks, take
them half enlightened and ignorant, are more hu-
mane and merciful than the most enlightened and
refined European that can be found in all the earth.
Let no one say that I assert this because I am
prejudiced on the side of my colour and against the
whites or Europeans. For what I write, I do it
candidly, for my God and the good of both parties :
Natural observations have taught me these things ;
there is a solemn awe in the hearts of the blacks, as
it respects murdering men. — Whereas the whites,
(though they are great cowards) where they have the
advantage, or think that there are any prospects of
getting it, they murder all before them, in order to
subject men to wretchedness and degradation under
them. This is the natural result of pride and ava-
rice. But I declare, the actions of this black wo-
man is really insupportable. For my own part, I can-
not think it was any thing but servile deceit, combined
with the most gross ignorance : For we must re-
member, that humanity, kindness and the fear of
the Lord, does not consist in protecting Devils. —
Here is a set of wretches, who had sixty of them
in a gang, driving them around the country like
brutes, to dig up gold and silver for them, (which
they will get enough of yet.) Should the lives of
such creatures be spared? Is God and mammon in
league? What has the Lord to do with a gang of

desperate wretches, who go sneaking about the
country like robbers — light upon his people where-
ever t^ey can get a chance, binding them with chains
and hand-cuffs, beat and murder them as they would
Rattle-Snakes? Are they not the Lord's enemies?
Ought they not to be destroyed? Any person who
will save such wretches from destruction is fighting
against the Lord, and will receive his just recom-
pense. The black men acted like block-heads. —
Why did they not make sure of the wretch? He
would have made sure of them if he could — It is
just the way with black men — eight white men can
frighten fifty of them ; whereas, if you can only get
courage into the blacks, I do declare it, that one
good black man, can put to death six white men,
and I give it as a fact, let twelve black men get
well armed for battle and they will kill and put to
flight fifty whites. The reason is,the blacks., once you
get them started they glory in death. The whites
have had us under them for more than three centu-
ries, murdering, and treating us like brutes, and as
Mr. Jefferson wisely said, they have never found
us out — they do not know indeed, that there is an un-
conquerable disposition in the breasts of the blacks,
which, when it is fully awakened and put in motion,
will be subdued, only with the destruction of the
animal existence — get the blacks started, and if you
do not have a gang of Tigers and Lions to deal
with, I am a deceiver of the blacks and of the whites.
How sixty of them could let that wretch escape un-
killed, I cannot conceive— they will have to suffer
as much for the two whom they secured, as if they
had put one hundred to death — if you commence,
make sure work — do not trifle, for they will not tri-
fle with you — they want us for their slaves and think
nothing of murdering us in order to subject us to
that wretched condition — therefore if there is an
attempt made by us, kill or be killed. Now I ask
you, had you not rather be killed than to be a slave to
@ tyrant, who takes the life of your mother, wife,

and dear little children? Look upon your wife and
children and answer God Almighty ; and believe
this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man,
who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a
drink of water when thirsty ; in fact, the man who
will stand still and let another murder him, is worse
than an infidel, and if he has common sense ought
hot to be pitied. The actions of this deceitful and
ignorant coloured wroman7 in saving the life of a
desperate man, whose avaricious and cruel object
was, to drive her and her companions in miseries,
through the country like cattle, to make his fortune
on their carcasses, are but too much like that of
thousands of our brethren in these States : if any
thing is whispered by one, which has any allusion
to the amelioration of their dreadful condition,
they run and tell tyrants, that they may be enabled
to keep them the longer in wretchedness and miser-
ies. Oh ! coloured people of these United States,
I ask you in the name of that God who made us,
have we in consequence of oppression, nearly lost
the spirit of man, and in no very trifling degree,
adopted that of brutes? Do you answer, No? —
I ask you then, what set of men can you point me
to, in all the world, who are so abjectly employed
by their oppressors as we are by our natural ene-
mies? How can, Oh ! liow can those enemies but
say that we and our children are not of the human
family, but were made by our Creator to be an in-
heritance to them and theirs forever? How can
the slave-holders but say that they can bribe the
best coloured person in the country, to sell his
brethren for a trifling sum of money, and take that
atrocity to confirm them in their avaricious opin-
ion, that we were made to be slaves to them and
their children? How could Mr Jefferson but say,
*" I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that
u the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or

*Sec his nutes on Virginia, page 5^1:3.

u made distinct by time and circumstances, are iiife-
<* rior to the whites in the endowments both of body
" and mind?" " It" says he, " is not against ex-
perience to suppose, that different species of the
" same genus, or varieties of the same species, may
u possess different qualifications.'5 (Here, my breth-
ren, listen to him.) jCT3" Will not a lover of natural
" history then, one who views the gradations in all
" the races of animals with the eye of philosophy,
" excuse an effort to keep those in the department
" of man as distinct as nature has formed them?"
I hope you all will try to find out the meaning of this
verse — its widest sense and all its bearings : wheth-
er you do or not, remember the whites do. This
very verse, brethren, having eminated from Mr.
Jefferson, a much greater philosopher, the world
never afforded, has, in truth injured us more, and
has been as great a barrier to our emancipation as
any thing that has ever been advanced against us —
I hope you will not let it pass unnoticed. He goes
on farther and says : " This unfortunate difference
" of colour, and perhaps of faculty, is a powerful
" obstacle to the emancipation of these people. Ma-
" ny of their advocates, while they wish to vindicate
" the liberty of human nature are anxious also to
" preserve its dignity and beauty. Somejof these,
" embarrassed by the question, ' What further is to
"be done with them?5 Join themselves jn opposi-
" tion with those who are actuated by sordid avarice
u only." Now I ask you candidly, my suffering breth-
ren intime, who are candidates for the eternal worlds,
how could Mr. Jefferson but have given the world
these remarks respecting us, when we are so sub-
missive to them, and so much servile deceit prevails
among ourselves— when we so meanly submit to
their murderous lashes, to which neither the In-
dians, nor any other people under heaven would
submit? No they would die to a man, before they
would suffer such things, from men who are no bet-
ter than themselves and perhaps not so good. Yes,

how can our friends but be embarrassed, as Mr.
Jefferson says, by the question, " What further is
to be done with these people?55 for while they are
working for our emancipation, we are, by our
treachery, wickedness and deceit, working against
ourselves and our children — helping ours, and the
enemies of God, to keep us and our dear little chil-
dren, in their infernal chains of slavery ! ! ! Indeed,
our friends cannot but relapse, and join themselves
u with those who are actuated by sordid avarice
only !!!!55 For my own part, I am glad Mr. Jef-
ferson has advanced his positions for your sake ;
for you will either have to contradict or confim him
by your own actions, and not by what our friends
have said or done for us 5 for those things are other
men5s labors, and do not satisfy the Americans, who
are waiting for us to prove to them ourselves, that
we are men, before they will be willing to admit the
fact ; for I pledge you my sacred word of honor,
that Mr. Jefferson5 s remarks respecting us have
sunk deep into the hearts of millions of the whites
and never will be removed this side of eternity. —
For how can they when we are confirming him eve-
ry day, by our groveling submissions and treachery?
I aver, that when I look over these United States
and see the ignorant deceptions and consequent
wretchedness of my brethren, I am brought oft-
times solemnly to a stand, and in the midst of my
reflections, I exclaim to my God, ' Lord didst thou
make us to be slaves to our brethren, the whites?5
But when I reflect that God is just, and that mil-
lions of my wretched brethren would meet death
with glory — yea, more — would plunge into the very
mouths of cannons and be torn into particles as mi-
nute as the atoms which compose the elements of the
earth, in preference to a mean submission to the
lash of tyrants, I am with streaming eyes, compelled
to shrink back into nothingness before my Maker,
and exclaim again, thy will be done, O ! Lord God
Almighty. . ^

Men of colour who are also of sense, for you par-
ticularly is my appeal designed — our more ignorant
brethren are not able to penetrate its value : — I call
upon you therefore to cast your eyes upon the
wretchedness of your brethren and to do your ut-
most to enlighten them — go to work and enlighten
your brethren — let theXord see you doing what you
can to rescue them and yourselves from degradation.
Do any of you say that you and your family are
free and happy, and what have you to do with the
wretched slaves and other people? So can I say
for I enjoy as much freedom as any of you, if I
am not quite as well off as the best of you. Look
into our freedom and happiness and see of what kind
they are composed ! ! They are of the very lowest
kind — they are the very dregs ! — they are the most
servile and abject kind, that ever a people was in
possession of!!! If you want to know how free you
are, let one of you start and go through the Southern
and Western States,of this country, and unless you
travel as a slave to a white man (a servant is a slave
to the man whom he serves) or have your free pa-
pers, (which if you are not careful they will get
from you) if they do not take you up and put you
in jail and if you cannot give good evidence of your
freedom sell you into eternal slavery, I am not a liv-
ing man : or any man of colour, immaterial who he
is, or where he came from, the Christian of America
will serve him the same — they will sink him into
wretchedness and degradation forever while he lives.
And yet some of you have the hardihood to say that
you are free and happy. May God have mercy on
your freedom and [happiness. I met a coloured
man in the street a short time since, with a string
of boots on his shoulders \ we fell into conversation,
and in course of which, I said to him, what a mis-
erable set of people we are! He asked, why? — '
Said I, we are so subjected under the whites, that
we cannot obtain the comforts of life, but by clean-
ing their boots and shoes, old clothes, waiting on

them, shaving them, Sec. Said he, (with the boots
on his shoulders) "lam completely happy ! ! ! I
" never want to live any better or happier than when
" I can get a plenty of boots and shoes to clean !!"
Oh ! how can those who are actuated by avarice on-
ly, but think, that our creator made us to be an in-
heritance to them forever, when they see that our
greatest glory is centered in such mean and low
objects? Understand me, brethren, I do not mean
to speak against the ocupations by which we ac-
quire enough, and sometimes scarcely that, to ren-
der ourselves and families comfortable through life.
I am subjected to the same inconvenience, as you all.
My objections are, to our glorying and being happy
in such low employments 5 for if we are men, we
ought to be thankful to the Lord for the past and
for the future. Be looking forward with thankful
hearts to higher attainments than weilding the razor
and cleaning boots and shoes. The man whose as-
pirations, are not above, and even below these, is,
indeed, ignorant and wretched enough. I advance
it therefore to you, not as a problematical, but as an
unshaken, and forever immoveable fact, that your
full glory and happiness, as well all other coloured
people under heaven, shall never be fully consumma-
ted, but with the entire emancipation of your enslav-
ed brethren all over the world. You may therefore,
go to work and do what you can to rescue, or join in
with tyrants to oppress them and yourselves, until
the Lord shall come upon you all like a thief in the
night. For I believe it is the will of the Lord, that
our greatest happiness shall consist in working for
the salvation of our whole body. When this is ac-
complished a burst , of glory will shine upon you,
which will indeed astonish you and the world.
Do any of you say this never will be done? — I as-
sure you that God will accomplish it — If nothing else
will answer, he will hurl tyrants and devils into at-
oms and make way for his people. But Oh ! my
brethren, I say unto you again, you must go to work
and prepare the way of the Lord.

There is a great work for you to do, as trifling a*
some of you may think of it. You have to prove
to the Americans and the world, that we are men
and not brutes, as we have been represented, and by
millions treated. Remember, to let the aim of your
labours among your brethren, and particularly the
youths be, the dissemination of education and reli-
gion. It is lamentable, that many of our children
go to school, from four until they are eight or ten
and sometimes fifteen years of age, and leave school
knowing but a little more about the Grammar of
their language than a horse does about handling a
musket— -and not a few of them, are realy so igno-
rant, that they are unable to answer a person cor-
rectly, general questions in Geography, and to
hear them read, would only be to disgust a man,
who has a taste for reading. Which to do well, as
trifling as it may appear to some, (to the ignorant in
particular) is a great part of learning. Some few
of them, may make out to scribble tolerably well,
over a half sheet of paper, which I believe has hith-
erto been a powerful obstacle, in our way, to keep
us from acquiring knowledge s An ignorant father
who knows no more than what nature has taught him,
together with what little he acquires by the senses
of hearing and seeing. Seeing his son able to write
a neat hand, sets it down for granted that he has
as good learning as any body 5 the young ignorant
gump hearing his father or mother who perhaps may
be ten times more ignorant, in point of literature than
himself, extoling his learning, struts about in the
full assurance, that his attainments in literature are
sufficient to take him through the world, when in
fact, he has scarcely any learning at all!!

I promiscuously fell in conversation once, with
an elderly coloured man on the topics of education,
and of the great prevalency of ignorance among us :
Said he, " I know that our people are very ignorant,
" but my son has a good education : I spent a great
^deal of money on his education: he can write as

" well as any white man and I assure you, that no one
u can fool him," &c. Said I, what else can your son
do besides writing a good hand? Can he post a
set of books in a mercantile manner? Can he write
a neat piece of composition in prose or in verse?
To all of which he answered in the negative. Said
I, did your son learn, while he was at school, the
widthand depth of English Grammar? to which he
also replied in the negative, telling me his son did
learn those things. Your son said I, then has not
hardly any learning at all — he is almost as ignorant^
and more so than many of those who never went to
school one day in all their lives. My friend got
a little put out, and so walking off said, that his son
could write as well as any white man. — Most of the
coloured people, when they speak of the education of
one among us who can write a neat hand, and who
perhaps knows nothing but to scribble and puff pretty
fair on a small scrap of paper, immaterial whether
his words are grammatical, or spelt correctly or not 5
if it only looks beautiful, they say he has as good an
education as any white man — he can write as well
as any white man, &c. The poor ignorant creature
hearing this, he is ashamed forever after, to let any
person see him humbling himself to another for learn-
irig,but going about trying to deceive those who are
more ignorant than himself, he at last falls an igno-
rant victim to death in wretchedness. I pray that the
Lord may undeceive my ignorant brethren, and
permit them to throw away pretensions and seek af-
ter the substance of learning. I would crawl on
my hands and knees through mud and mire to the
feet of a learned man, where I would sit and hum-
bly supplicate him to instil into me, that which nei-
ther Devils nor tyrants could remove only with my
life — for the Africans to acquire learning in this
country makes tyrants quake and tremble on their
sandy foundation. Why, what is the matter? Why,
they know that their infernal deeds of cruelty will be
made known to the world. Do you suppose one man of

good sense and learning would submit, himself, his
father, mother, wife and children to be slaves to a
wretched man like himself, who instead of compen-
sating him for his labours, chains,hand-cuffs and beats
him and family almost to death, leaving life enough
in them however, to work for, and call him master?
No! no ! he would cut his devlish throat from ear to
ear, and well do slave-holders know it. The bare
name of educating the coloured people scares slave-
holders almost to death. But if they do not have
enough to be frightened for, yet, it will be, because
tliey can always keep us ignorant, and because God
approbates their cruelties with which they have been
for centuries murdering us. The whites shall have
enough of the blacks, yet, as true as God sits on his
throne in heaven.

Some of our brethren are so very full of learning
that you cannot mention any thing to them which
they do not know better than yourself !! — nothing
is strange to them !! — they knew every thing years
ago ! — if any thing should be mentioned in compa-
ny where they are, immaterial how important it is
respecting us or the world, if they had not divulged
it ; they make light of it, and affect to have known
it long before it was mentioned and try to make all
in the room or wherever you may be, believe that
your conversation is nothing ! ! — not worth hearing !
All this is the result of ignorance and ill-breeding ;
for a man of good breeding, sense and penetration,
if he had heard a subject told twenty times over and
should happen to be in company where one should
commence telling it again, he would wait with pa-
tience on its narrator and see if he would tell it as
it was told in his presence before — paying the most
strict attention to what is said, to see if any more
light will be thrown on the subject : — for all men
are not gifted alike in telling, or even hearing the
most simple narration. These ignorant, vicious,
and wretched men, contribute almost as much in-
jury to our body as tyrants themselves, by doing so

P 96

much for the promotion of ignorance among us ;-~
for they, making such pretensions to knowledge,
such of our youth, as are seeking after knowledge,
and can get access to them, take them as crite-
rions to go by, who will lead them into a channel,
where, unless the Lord blesses them with the privi-
lege of seeing their folly, they will be irretrievably lost
forever while in time ! ! !

I must close this article by relating the very heart-
rending fact, that I have examined school-boys and
young men of colour in different parts of the coun-
try, in the most simple parts of Murray's English
Grammar, and not more than one in thirty was able
to give a correct answer to my interrogations. If
any one contradicts me, let him step out of his
door into the streets of Boston, New- York, Phil-
adelphia or Baltimore, (no use to mention any oth-
er, for the christians are too charitable further
South or West!!!) I say, let him who disputes
me, step out of his door into the streets of either of
those four cities, and promiscuously collect one
hundred school-boys or young men of colour who
have been to school, and who are considered by the
coloured people, to have received an excellent edu-
cation, because perhaps, some of them can write a
good hand, but who, notwithstanding their neat wri-
tings may be almost as ignorant in comparison, as
horses.-— And I say it3 he will hardly find (in this
enlightened day, and in the midst of this charitable
people) ten in one hundred who are able to correct
the false grammar of their language. — The cause of
this almost universal ignorance among us, I appeal
to our school-masters to declare* Here is a faclr
which I this very minute, take from the mouth of a
young coloured man, who has been to school in this
State (Massachusetts) nearly nine years, and who
knows grammar this day, nearly as well as he did
the day he first entered the school-house, under a
white master. This young man says: — "mymas-
" ter would never allow me to study grammar."—

I asked him, why? "The school committee" said he$
" forbid the coloured children learning grammar —
" they would not allow any but the white children
"to study grammar.5' It is a notorious fact, that
the major part of the white Americans, have, ever
since we have been among them, tried to keep us
ignorant, and make us believe that God made us
and our children to be slaves to them and theirs.-—
Oh ! my God have mercy on Christian Ameri-
cans ! ! ! ! ! !

ARTICLE 3.

OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE
PREACHERS OF THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST,

Religion, my brethren, is a substance, of deep
consideration among all nations of the earth. The
Pagans have a kind, as well as the Mahometans*
the Jews, and the Christians. But pure and unde-
fined religion, such as was preached by Jesus Christ
and his Apostles, is hard to be found in all the earth.
God through his instrument, Moses, handed a dis-
pensation of his divine will, to the children of Israel
after they had left Egypt" for the Land of Canaan,or
of Promise, who through hypocrisy, oppression and
unbelief, departed from the faith. — He then, by his
Apostles, handed a dispensation of his, together with
the will of Jesus Christ, to the Europeans in Eu-
rope, who in open violation of which, have made
merchandise of us, and it does appear as though
they take this very dispensation to aid them in their
infernal depredations on us, Indeed, the way in
which religion was and is conducted by the Euro-
peans and their descendants, one might believe it
was a plan fabricated by themselves and the Devils,
to oppress us. But hark ! my master has taught
me better than to believe it — He has taught me that
his Gospel as it was preached by himself and his
Apostles remains the same, notwithstanding Europe
has tried to mnigle blood and oppression with it.

It is well known to the Christian world, that Bar-

tholomew Las Casas, that very notoriously avari-
cious Catholic priest or preacher, and adventurer
with Columbus in his second voyage, proposed to his
countrymen, the Spaniards in Bispaniola to import
theAfricans from the Portuguese settlement in Afri-
ca, to dig up gold and silver, and work their plan-
tations for them, to effect which, he made a voyage
thence to Spain, and opened the subject to his mas-
ter, Ferdinand, then in declining health, who listen-
ed to the plan : but who died soon after, and left it
in the hands of his successor, Charles V.* This man,
(u Las Casas, the Preacher,",) succeeded so well
in his plans of oppression, that in 1503, the first
blacks had been imported into the new world. Ela-
ted with this success, and stimulated by sordid ava-
rice only, he importuned Charles V. in 1511, to
grant permission to a Flemish merchant, to im-
port 4000 blacks at one time. Thus we see, through
the instrumentality of a pretended preacher of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ our common master, our
wretchedness first commenced in America, where it
has been continued from 1503, to this day, 1829.
A period of three hundred and twenty six years.
But two hundred and nine, from 1620 — when twenty
of our fathers were brought into Jamestown, Vir-
ginia, by a Dutch man of war, and sold off like
brutes to the highest bidders ; and there is not a
doubt in my mind, but that tyrants are in hopes to
perpetuate our miseries under them and their chil-
dren until the final consummation of all things.—
But if they do not get dreadfully deceived, it will
be because God has forgotten them.

The Pagans, Jews and Mahometans try to make
proselytes to their religions, and whatever human
beings adopt their religions they extend to them
their protection. But Christian Americans, not
only hinder their fellow creatures, the Africans,

* See Butler's History of the United States, vol. I. page 24.—
See also,page 25.

but thousands of them will absolutely beat a colour-
ed person nearly to death, if they catch him on his
knees, supplicating the throne of grace. This bar-
barous cruelty was by all the heathen nations of an-
tiquity, and is by the Pagans, Jews and Mahomet-
ans of the present day, left entirely to Christian
Americans to inflict on the Africans and their de-
scendants, that their cup which is nearly full may
be completed. I have known tyrants or usurpers
of human liberty in different parts of the South, to
take their fellow creatures, the coloured people,
and beat them until they would scarcely leave life
in them; what for? Why, they say, u the black
" Devils had the audacity to be found making pray-
" er and supplication to the God who made them! ! ! ! "
Yes, I have known small collections of coloured
people to have convened together, for no other pur-
pose than to worship God Almighty, in spirit and in
truth, to the best of their knowledge ; when tyrants
calling themselves patrols, would also convene
and wait almost in breathless silence, for the poor
coloured people to commence singing and praying
to the Lord our God, and as soon as they had com-
menced the wretches would burst in upon them and
drag them out and commence beating them as they
would rattle-snakes— many of whom, they would
beat so unmercifully that they would hardly be able to
crawl for weeks and sometimes for months — Yet the
American ministers send out missionaries to convert
the heathen, while they keep us and our children
sunk at their feet in the most abject ignorance and
wretchedness that ever a people was afflicted with
since the world began. Will the Lord suffer this
people to proceed much longer? Will he not stop
them in their career? Does he regard the heathens
abroad, more than the heathens among the Ameri-
cans? Surely the Americans must believe that God
is partial, notwithstanding his Apostle Peter, de-
clared before Cornelius and others that he had no
respect to persons, but in every nation he that fears

eth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with
him — u The word" said he, " which God sent unto
u the children of Israel, preaching peace, by Jesus
" Christ (he is Lord of all. J"* Have not the Amer-
icans the Bible in their hands? Do they believe it?
Surely they do not. See how they treat us in open
violation of the Bible ! ' They no doubt will be
greatly offended with me, but if God does not awa-
ken them, it will be, because they are superior to
other men, as they have represented themselves to
be. Our divine Lord and Master said, " all things
u whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you,
"do ye even so unto them." But an American
minister, with the Bible in his hand, holds us and
our children in the most abject slavery and wretch-
edness. Now I ask them, would they like for us to
hold them and their children in abject slavery and
wretchedness? No says one, that never can be
tlone — you are too abject and ignorant to do it — you
are not men— you were made to be slaves to us, to
dig up gold and silver for us and our children. —
Know this, my dear sir, that although you treat us
and our children now, as you do your domestic
beasts — yet the final result of all future events are
known but to God Almighty alone, who rules in
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and who dethrones one earthly king and
sits up another, as it seemeth good in his holy sight.
We may attribute these vicissitudes to what we
please, but the God of armies and of justice rules
in heaven and in earth, and the whole American
people shall see and know it yet, to their satisfac-
tion. I have known pretended preachers of the gos-
pel of my Master, who not only held us as their nat-
ural inheritance, but treated us with as much rigor
as any infidel or Deist in the world — just as though
they were intent only on taking our blood and groans
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. The wicked and

*See Acta of the Apostles, chap. x. r. 25 — 26,

ungodly seeing their preachers treat us with so much
cruelty, they say : our preachers, who must be right,
if any body are, treat them like brutes, and why
cannot we? — They think it is no harm to keep them
in slavery and put the whip to them, and why can-
not we do the same? — They being preachers of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, if it were any harm, they
would surely preach against their oppression and do
their utmost to erase it from the country — not only
in one or two cities, but one continual cry would be
raised in all parts of this confederacy, and would cease
only with the complete overthrow of the system of
slavery,in every part of the country. But how far the
American preachers are from preaching against sla-
very and oppression, which have carried their country
to the brink of a precipice; to save them from plung-
ing down the side of which, will hardly be effected,
will appear in the sequel of this paragraph, which I
shall narrate just as it transpired. I remember a
Camp-Meeting in South Carolina, for which I em-
barked in a steam-boat at Charleston, and having
been five or six hours on the water, we at last arri-
ved at the place of hearing, where was a very great
concourse of people, who were no doubt, collected
together to hear the word of God, (that some had
collected barely as spectators to the scene, I will not
here pretend to doubt, however, that is left to them-
selves and their God.) Myself and boat compan-
ions, having been there a little while, we were all
called up to hear ; I among the rest, went up and
took my seat — being seated, I fixed myself in a com-
plete position to hear the word of my Saviour and to
receive such as I thought was authenticated by the
Holy Scriptures ; but to my no ordinary astonish-
ment, our Reverend Gentleman got up and told
us (coloured people) that slaves must be obedient to
their masters—must do their duty to their masters
or be whipped — the whip was made for the backs of
fools, &c. — Here I pause for a moment, to give the
world time to consider what was my surprise, to

hear such preaching from a minister of mj Master,
whose very Gospel is that of peace and not of blood
& whips as this pretended preacher tried to make us
believe. What the American preachers can think of
us, I aver this day before my God, I have never been
able to define. — They have newspapers and monthly
periodicals which they receive in continual succes-
sion,hut on the pages of which,you will scarcely ever
find a paragraph respecting slavery, which is ten
thousand times more injurious to this country than
all the other evils put together 5 and which will be
the final overthrow of its government, unless
something is very speedily done 5 for their cup
is nearly full.— Perhaps they will laugh at, or make
light of this 5 but I tell you, Americans ! that un-
less you speedily alter your course, you and your
Country are gone ! ! ! ! ! ! ! For God Almighty will
tear up the very face of the earth !!!!!! Will not
that very remarkable passage of scripture be fulfil*
ed on Christian Americans? Hear it Americans !!
*"'He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: —
" and he which is filthy,let him be filthy still : and he
"that is righteous, let him be righteous still : and
uhe that is holy, let him be holy still.55 I hope
that the Americans may hear, but I am afraid that
they have done us so much injury, and are so firm
in the belief that our Creator made us to be an in-
heritance to them forever, that their hearts will be
hardened, so that their destruction may be sure. —
This language, perhaps is too harsh for the Ameri-
cans5 delicate ears. But Oh Americans ! Ameri-
cans ! ! I warn you in the name of the Lord, (wheth-
er you will hear, or forbear,) to repent and reform,
or you are ruined !!!!!! Do you think that our blood
is hidden from the Lord, because you can hide it from
the rest of the world, by sending out missionaries
and by your charitable deeds to the Greeks,
Irish, &c? Will he not publish your secret crimes
on the house top? Even here in Boston, pride and
prejudice have got to such a pitch, that in the very

*8e« Revelation, chap. xxii. v. 11.

houses erected to the Lord, they have built little
places for the reception of coloured people, where
they must sit during meeting, or keep away from
the house of God 5 and the preachers say nothing
about it — much less, go into the hedges and high-
ways seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
and try to bring them in, to their Lord and Master.
There are hardly a more wretched, ignorant, miser-
able, and abject set of beings in all the world, than
the blacks in the Southern and Western sections of
this country, under tyrants and Devils — The preach-
ers of America cannot see them, but they can send
out missionaries to convert the heathen, notwith-
standing. Americans ! unless you speedily alter
your course of proceeding, if God Almighty does
not stop you, I say it in his name, that you may go
on and do as you please for ever, both in time and
in eternity — never fear any evil at all !!!!!!! !

How can the preachers and people of America
believe the Bible? Does it teach them any distinc-
tion on account of a man's colour? Hearken, Amer-
icans ! to the injunctions of our Lord and Master,
to his humble followers.

*" And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
'" all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

" Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bapti-
" zing them in the name of the Father, and of the
" Son, and of the Holy Ghost 5

" Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
" I have commanded you : and lo, I am with you al-
" way, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

I declare, that the very face of these injunctions
appear to be of God and not of man. They do not
show the slighest degree of distinction. " Go ye
"therefore," (says my divine Master,) "and teach
" all nations," (or in other words, all people.) "hap-
"tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
" Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Do you understand

*See St. Matthew^ Gospel, chap, xxviii. r. 18 — 19 — CO.— After
Jesus w*s ri«en from the dead.

the above, Americans ? We are a people, notwith-
standing many of you doubt it. You have the Bi-
ble in your hands with this very injuction. Have
you been to Africa teaching the inhabitants thereof,
the words of the Lord Jesus ? " Baptizing them in
M the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
u Holy Ghost." Have you not on the contrary,
entered among us, and learnt us the art of throat
cutting, by setting us to fight, one against an other,
to take each other as prisoners of war, and sell to you
for small bits of Calicoes, old Swords, Knives, &c.
to make slaves for you and your children ? This be-
ing done, have you not brought us among you, in
chains and hand-cuffs, like brutes, and treated us
with all the cruelties and rigour your ingenuity could
invent, consistent with the laws of your country,
which, (for the blacks is tyranical enough ?) Can the
American Preachers, appeal unto God, the Maker
and Searcher of hearts, and tell him with the Bible
in their hands, that they make no distinction on ac-
count of men's colour ? Can they say, Oh ! God,
thou knowest all things, thou knowest that we make
no distinction between thy creatures, to whom we
have to preach thy Word ? Let them answer the
Lord. And if they cannot do it in the affirmative,
have they not departed from the Lord Jesus Christ,
their master ? But some may say, that they never
had, or were in possession of a religion, which made
no distinction, and of course they could not have de-
parted from it. I ask you then, in the name of the
Lord, of what kind can your religion be? Can it be
that which was preached by our Lord Jesus Christ
from Heaven? I believe you cannot be so wicked
as to tell him, that his Gospel was that of distinc-
tion. What can the American preachers and peo-
ple take God to be? Do they believe his words? —
If they do, do they believe that he will be mocked?
Or do they believe, because they are whites and we
blacks, that God will have respect to them? Did
not God make us all as it seemed best to himself?

What right then have one of us, to despise anoint
and to treat him cruel on account of his colour,
which none but the God who made it, can alter? —
Can there be a greater absurdity in nature, and
particularly in a free republican country? But the
Americans having introduced slavery among them,
their hearts have become almost seared as with an
hot iron, and God has nearly given them up to be-
lieve a lie in preference to the truth ! ! ! ! and I am
awfully afraid that pride, prejudice, avarice and
blood will before long, prove the final ruin of this
happy republic, or land of liberty!!!!! Can any
thing be a greater mockery of religion than the way
in which it is conducted by the Americans? It ap-
pears as though they are bent only on daring God
Almighty to do his best — they chain and hand-cuff
us and our children and drive us around the country
like brutes, and go into the house of the God of jus-
tice to return him thanks for having aided them in
their infernal cruelties inflicted upon us. Will the
Lord suffer this people to go on much longer, taking
his holy name in vain? Will he not stop them,
preachers and all? O ! Americans ! Americans !! I
call God — I call angels — I call men, to witness, that
your destruction is at hand, and will be speedily con-
summated, unless you repent.

article; 4.

OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE
COLONIZING PLAN.

My dearly beloved brethren : — This is a scheme,
on which so many able writers, together with that
very judicious coloured Baltimorean, have commen-
ted, that I feel my delicacy about touching it. —
But as I am compelled to do the will of my master,
I declare, I will give you my sentiment upon it. —
Previous, however, to giving my sentiment either
for or against it, I shall give that of Mr. Henry

Clay, together with that of Mr. Elias B. Caldwell,
Esq. of the District of Columbia, as extracted from
the National Intelligencer, by Dr. Torrey, author of
a series of " Essays on Morals, and the diffusion of
useful Knowledge."

At a meeting which was convened in the District
of Columbia, for the express purpose of agitating
the subject of colonizing us in some part of the
world, Mr. Clay was called to the chair, and having
been seated a little while, he rose and spake, in sub-
stance, as follows: says he — *" That class of the
"mixt population of our country [coloured people]
" was peculiarly situated, they neither enjoyed the
" immunities of freemen, nor were they subjected
" to the incapacities of slaves, but partook in some
" degree of the qualities of both. From their condi-
tion and the unconquerable prejudices resulting
"from their colour, they never could amalgamate
" with the free whites of this country. It was de-
" sirable, therefore, as it respected them, and the
"residue of the population of the country, to drain
" them off. Various schemes of colonization had
" been thought of, and a part of our continent, it
" was supposed by some, might furnish a suitable
" establishment for them. But for his part, Mr. C.
" said, he had a decided preference for some part of
" the coast of Africa. There ample provisionmight
" be made for the colony itself, and it might be render-
ed instumental to the introduction into that exten-
sive quarter of the globe, of the arts, civilization
"and Christianity." [Here I ask, Mr. Clay, what
kind of Christianity 1 Did he mean such as they have
among the Americans — distinction, blood and op-
pression? I pray the Lord Jesus Christ to forbid it.]
" There, said he, was a peculiar, a moral fitness in
"restoring them to the land of their fathers, and if
" instead of the evils and sufferings which we had

*Sec Dr. Torrey's Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the Uni-
tod-Statei, pag« 8-5 — 86.

" been the innocent cause of inflicting upon th«
" inhabitants of Africa, we can transmit to her the
"blessings of our arts, our civilization, and our
"religion. May we not hope that America will ex-
ki tinguish a great portion of that moral debt which
" she has contracted to that unfortunate continent?
"Can there be a nobler cause than that which, whilst
" it proposes, &c. *#*####### [you know
what this means.] " contemplates the spreading of
" the arts of civilized life, and the possible redemp-
tion from ignorance and barbarism of a benighted
" quarter of the globe?"

Before I proceed any further, I solicit your notice,
brethren, to the foregoing part of Mr. Clay's speech,
in which he says, (%CT* look above) " and if, instead
"of the evils and sufferings, which we had been the
"innocent cause of inflicting, &c." What this very
learned statesman could have been thinking about
when he said in his speech, "we had been the inno-
"cent cause of inflicting, &c.5' I have never been
able to conceive. Are Mr. Clay and the rest of the
Americans, innocent of the blood and groans of our
fathers and us their children ? Every individual may
plead innocence, if he pleases, but God will, before
long, separate the innocent from the guilty, unless
something is speedily done — which I suppose will
hardly be, so that their destruction may be sure. Oh
Americans ! let me tell you, in the name and fear of
the Lord, it will be good for you, if you listen to the
voice of the Holy Ghost, but if you do not, you are
ruined ! ! ! ! Some of you are good men ; but the will
of my God must be done. Those avaricious and
ungodly tyrants among you, I am awfully afraid
will drag down the vengeance of God upon you. —
When God Almighty commences his battle on the
continent of America, for the oppression of his peo-
ple, tyrants will wish they never were born.

But to return to Mr. Clay, whence I digressed.
He says, " It was proper and necessary distinctly to
u state that he understood it constituted no part of the

" object of this meeting, to touch or agitate in the
" slightest degree, a delicate question connected
" with another portion of the coloured population of
" our country. It was not proposed to deliberate upon
" or consider at all, any question of emancipation,
" or that was which connected with the abolition of
" slavery. It was upon that condition alone, he
"was sure, that many gentlemen from the South
"and the West, whom he saw present, had attend-
" ed, or could be expected to co-operate. It was
" upon that condition only, that he had himself at-
" tended.55 That is to say, fix a plan to get those of
the coloured people, who are said to be free, away
from among those of our brethren, whom they un-
justly hold in bondage so that they may be enabled
to keep them the more secure in ignorance and
wretchedness, to support them and their children,
and consequently, they would have the more obedi-
ent slaves. For if the free are allowed to stay among
the slaves, they will have intercourse together, and of
course, the free will learn the slaves bad habits, by
teaching them, that they are men, as well as other
people, and certainly ought and must be free.

I presume, that every intelligent man of colour, must
have some idea of Mr. Henry Clay,now^of Kentucky,
they know too perhaps, whether, he is a friend, or a
foe to the coloured citizens of this country, and of
the world. This gentleman, according to his own
words, had been highly favoured and blessed of the
Lord, though he did not acknowledge it. But on
the contrary, he acknowledged men, for all the bles-
sings with which, God had favoured him. At a pub-
lic dinner given him, at Fouler' s Garden, Lexington,
Kentucky, he delivered a public speech to a very
large concourse of people — in the concluding clause
of which, he says, ic And now my friends and fellow
" citizens, I cannot part from you, on possibly this
u last occasion of my ever publicly addressing you,
" without reiterating the expression of my thanks
" from a heart overflowing with gratitude, I came

W among you, now more than thirty years ago, an
" orphan boy, pennyless, a stranger to you all, with-
" out friends, without the favour of the great,youtook
" me up, cherished me, caressed me, protected me,
« honored me, you have constantly poured upon me
" a bold and unabated stream of innumerable favors,
" time which wears out every thing, has increased
" and strengthened your affection for me. When I
« seemed deserted by almost the whole world, and
« assailed by almost every tongue, and pen, and press,
" you have fearlessly and manfully stood by me,
" with unsurpassed zeal and undiminished friend-
" ship. When I felt as if I should sink beneath the
" storm of abuse and detraction, which was violent-
ly raging around me, I have found myself upheld
^ and sustained by your encouraging voices and your
" approving smiles, I have doubtless committed ma-
*< ny faults and indiscretions, over which you have
t* thrown the broad mantle of your charity. But I
" can say, and in the presence of God and of this as-
" sembled multitude, I will say, that I have honestly
& and faithfully served my country, that I have nev-
^ er wronged it, and that however unprepared, I la-
s' ment that I am to appear in divine presence on
66 other accounts, I invoke the stern justice of his
" judgement on my public conduct, without the
" smallest apprehension of his displeasure."

Hearken to this statesman indeed, but no philan-
thropist, whom God sent into Kentucky, an orphan
boy, pennyless and friendless, where he not only gave
him a plenty of friends and the comforts of life, but
raised him almost to the very highest honor in the
nation, where his great talents, with which the Lord
has been pleased to bless him, has gained for him the
affection of a great portion of the people with whom
he had to do. But what has this gentleman done for
the Lord, after having done so much for him? The
Lord has a suffering people, whose moans and
groans at his feet for deliverance from oppression
and wretchedness, pierce the very throne of heaven,

and call loudly on the God of justice^ to be reveng-
ed. Now, what this gentleman, who is so highly
favoured of the Lord has done to liberate those mis-
erable victims of oppression, shall appear before the
world by his letters to Mr. Gallatin, Envoy Extra-
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great
Britain, dated June 19, 1826. Though Mr. Clay
was writing for the States, yet nevertheless, it ap-
pears from the very face of his letters to that gen-
tlemen, that he was as anxious, if not more so, to
get those free people and sink them into wretchedr
ness, as his constituents for whom he wrote.

The Americans of North and of South America,
including the West-India Islands — no trifling por-
tion of whom, were, for stealing, murdering, Slc.
compelled to flee from Europe, to save their
necks or banishment, have effected their escape to
this continent, where God blessed them with all the
comforts of life — He gave them a plenty of every
thing calculated to do them good— not satisfied with
this, however, they wanted slaves, and wanted us
for their slaves, who belong to the Holy Ghost and
no other, who we shall have to serve instead of ty-
rants.— I say, the Americans want us, the property
of the Holy Ghost, to serve them. But there is a
day fast approaching, when (unless there is a uni-
versal repentance, on the part of the whites, which
will scarcely be done, they have got to be so har-
dened in consequence of our blood, and so wise in
their own conceit) To be plain and candid with you,
Americans ! I say that the day is fast approaching
when there will be a greater time on the continent
of America than ever was witnessed upon this earth
since it came from the hand of its Creator. Some
of you, have done us so much, that you will nev-
er be able to repent— Your cup must be filled —
You want us for your slaves and shall have enough
of us— God is just, who will give you your Jill of us.
But Mr. Henry Clay, speaking to Mr. Gallatin,
respecting coloured! people, who had effected

their escape from the United States (or to them
hell upon earth !!!) to the hospitable shores of Can-
ada, from whence it would cause more than the
lives of Americans to get them, to plunge into
wretchednc ss — he says : " The General Assembly
" of Kentucky, one of tho States which is most af-
"fected by the escape of slaves into Upper Canada,
"has again, at their session which has just termina-
" ted, invoked the interposition of the General Gov-
" ernment. In the treaty which has been recently
" concluded with the United Mexican States, and
" which is now under the consideration of the Sen-
" ate, provision is made for the restoration of fugi-
" tive slaves. As it appears from your statements
" of what passed on that subject, with the British
" Plenipotentiaries, that they admitted the correct-
" ness of the principle of restoration 5 it is hoped
" that you will be able to succeed m making satis-
6 ' factory arrangements . 5 5

There are a series of these letters, all of which,
are to the same amount ; some however, presenting
■a face more of his own responsibility. I wonder what
would this gentleman think, if the Lord should give
him among the rest of his blessings enough of slaves?
Could he blame any other being but himself? Do
we not belong to the Holy Ghost? What business
lias he or any body else, to be sending letters about
the world respecting us? Can we not go where we
want to, as well as other people, only if we obey the
voice of the Holy Ghost? This gentleman (Mr. Hen-
ry Clay) not only took an active part in this coloni-
zing plan, but was absolutely chairman of a meet-
ing held at Washington, the 21st day of Decem-
ber, 182G, to agitate the subject of colonizing us in
Africa. Now I appeal and ask every citizen of
these United States, and of the world, both white
and black, who has any knowledge of Mr. Clay's
public labours for these States — I want you candidly
to answer the Lord, who sees the secrets of your
hearts — Do you believe that Mr. Henry Clay, late

Secretary of State^ and now in Kentucky, is a friend
to the blacks further than his personal interest ex-
tends? Is it not his greatest object and glory upon
earth, to sink us into miseries and wretchedness by
making slaves of us* to work his plantation to en-
rich him and his family? Does he care a pinch of
snuff about Africa — whether it remains a land of
Pagans and of blood, or of Christians, so long as
he gets enough of her sons and daughters to dig up
gold and silver for him? If he had no slaves, and
could obtain them in no other way5 if it were not
repugnant to the laws of his country^ which prohib-
it the importation of slaves (which act was, indeed,
more through apprehension than humanity) would
he not try to import a few from Africa, to work his
farm? Would he work in the hot sun to earn his
bread, if he could make an African work for nothing,
particularly, if he could keep him in ignorance and
make him believe that God made him for nothing
else but to work for him? Is not Mr. Clay a white
man, and too delicate to work in the hot sun? Was
he not made by his Creator to sit in the shade5 and
make the blacks work without remuneration for their
services, to support him and his family? I have
been for sometime taking notice of this man's speech-
es and public writings, but never to my knowledge
have I seen any thing in his writings which insisted
on the emancipation of slavery, which has almost
ruined his country* Thus we seethe depravity of
men's hearts, when in pursuit only of gain— particu-
larly when they oppress their fellow creatures to ob-
tain that gain— God suffers some to go on until they
are lost forever. This same Mr. Clay, wants to
know, what he has done, to merit the disapproba-
tion of the American people. In a public speech
delivered by him, he asked: " Did I involve my
" country in an unnecessary war?'1 to merit the cen-
sure of the Americans — " did I bring obliquy upon
"the nation, or the people whom I represented?—
did I ever lose any opportunity to advance the

"fame, honor and prosperity of this State and of the
" Union?" — How astonishing it is, for a man who
knows so much about God and his ways, as Mr,
Clay, to ask such frivolous questions? Does he be-
lieve that a man of his talents and standing in the*
midst of a people, will get along unnoticed by the
penetrating and all seeing eye of God, who is con-
tinually taking cognizance of the hearts of men? —
Is not God against himrfor advocating the murder-
ous cause of slavery? If God is against him, what
can the Americans, together with the whole world
do for him? Can they save him from the hand of
the Lord Jesus Christ?

I shall now pass in review the speech of Mr. Eli-
as B. Caldwell, Esq. of the District of Columbia,
extracted from the same page on which Mr. Clay's
will be found, Mr. Caldwell, giving his opinion re-
specting us, at that ever memorable meeting, he says :
" The more you improve the condition of these peo-
" pie, the more you cultivate their minds, the more
"miserable you make them in their present state.
" You give them a higher relish for those privileges
" which they can never attain, and turn what we in-
"tend for a blessing into a curse." — Let me ask
this benevolent man, what he means by a blessing
intended for us? Did he mean sinking us and our
children into ignorance and wretchedness, to sup-
port him and his family? What he meant will ap-
pear evident and obvious to the most ignorant in
the world. ICT'See Mr. CaldwelPs intended bles-
sings for us, O! my God!! " No," said he, "if
" they must remain in their present situation, keep
" them in the lowest state of degradation and igno-
" ranee. The nearer you bring them to the condition
" of brutes, the better chance do you give them ofpos-
" sessing their apathy." Here I pause to get breath,
having laboured to extract the above clause of this
gentlemen's speech, at that colonizing meeting. I pre-
sume that every body knows the meaning of the word
" apathy," if any do not let him get Sheridan's Die-

lionary, Where he will find it explained in full. I solic-
it the attention of the world, to the foregoing part of
Mr. CaidwelPs speech, that they may see what man
will do with his fellow men, when he has them under
his feet. To what length will not man go in iniquity
when given up to a hard heart, and reprobate mind,
in consequence of blood and oppression ? The last
clause of this speech, which was written in a very
artful manner, and which will be taken for the speech
of a friend, without close examination and deep
penetration, I shall now present. He says " sure-
" ly, Americans ought to be the last people on earth,
"to advocate such slavish doctrines, to cry peace
"and contentment to those who are deprived of the
" privileges of civil liberty, they who have so largely
" partaken of its blesssings, who know so well how
" to estimate its value, ought to be among the fore-
most to extend it to others." The real sense and
meaning of the last part of Mr. Caldwell's speech, is,
get the free people of colour away to Africa, from
among the slaves, where they may at once be bles-
sed and happy, and our slaves, will be contented to
rest in ignorance and wretchedness, to dig up gold
and silver for us and our children. Men have in-
deed, got to be so cunning, these days, that it would
take the eye of a Solomon to penetrate and find
them out.

Extract from the speech of Mr. John Randolph*
of Roanoke.

Said he: — "It had been properly observed by the
" Chairman, as well as by the gentleman from this
" District, (meaning Messrs. Clay and Caldwell)
" that there was nothing in the proposition submit-
" ted to consideration which in the smallest degree
" touches another very important and delicate ques-
" tion, which ought to be left as much out of view
"as possible, (Negro Slavery.)

" There was no fear, Mr. R. said, that this prop-
" osition would alarm the slave-holders ; they had
" been accustomed to think seriously of the subject.

« There was a popular work on agriculture, by John
« Taylor of Caroline, which was widely circulated,
" and much confided in, in Virginia. In that book,
" much read because coming from a practical man,
"this description of people [referring to us half free
"ones,l were pointed out as a great evil. Ihey had
"indeed been held up as the greater bugbear to ev-
" ery man who feels an inclination to emancipate his
" slaves, not to create in the bosom of his country
« so great a nuisance. If a place could be provided
" for their reception, and a mode of sending them
" hence there were hundreds, nay thousands of citi-
zens who would, by manumitting their slaves, re-
's lieve themselves from the cares attendant on their
"possession. The great slave-holder, Mr. R. said,
"was frequently a mere sentry At bis own door-
abound to stay on his plantation %> see that his
"slaves were properly treated, &.c. Mr. R. con-
" eluded by saying, that he had thought it ne^essa-
"to make these remarks, being a slave-holder him-
"self, to shew that, so far from being connected
" with abolition of slavery, the measure proposed
" would prove one of the greatest securities to ena-
" ble the master to keep in possession his own prop-

"erty."

Here is a demonstrative proof, of a plan got up,
by a gang of slave-holders, to select the free peo-
ple of colour from among the slaves, that our more
miserable brethren may be the better secured m
ignorance and wretchedness, to work their farms
and dig their mines, and thus go on enriching the
christians with their blood and groans. What our
brethren could have been thinking about, who have
left their native land and home and gone away to
Africa, I am unable to say. This country is as
much ours as it is the whites, whether they will ad-
mit it now or not, they will see and believe it by and
by They tell us about prejudice— what have we
to do with it? Their prejudices will be obliged to
fall like lightning to the ground, in succeeding

generations ; not, however, with the will and con-
sent of all the whites, for some will be obliged to
hold on to the old adage, viz : the blacks are not
men, but were made to be an inheritance to us and
our children, forever !!!!'! I hope the residue of
the coloured people, will stand still and see the sal-
vation of God, and the miracle which he will work
for our delivery from wretchedness under the chris-
tians!!!!!!!

Before I proceed further with this scheme, I shall
give an extract from the letter of that truly Reve-
rend Divine, (Bishop Allen,) of Philadelphia, re-
respecting this trick. At the instance of ^he Editor
of the Freedom's Journal, he says, * "Dear Sir, I
' have been for several years trying to reconcile
' my mind to the Colonizing of Africans in Liberia,
' but there l^ave ' always been, and there still re-
6 main, great and insurmountable objections against
' the scheme. We are an unlettered people, brought
' up in ignorance, not one in a hundred can read or
' write, not one in a thousand has a liberal educa-
' tion, is there any fitness for such to be sent into a
' far country, among heathens, to convert or civilize
' them when they themselves are neither civilized or
6 christianized ? See the great bulk of the poor ig-
* norant Africans in this country, exposed to every
' temptation before them ; all for the want of their
' morals being refined by education and proper at-
6 tendance paid unto them by their owners, or those
' who had the charge of them. It is said by the
c Southern Slave-holders, that the more ignorant
6 they can bring up the Africans, the better Slaves
' they make, "go and come." 'Is there any fit-
' ness for such people to be Colonized in a far coun^
' try to be their own rulers ? Can we not discern
' the project of sending the Free People of Colour
' away from their country 1 Is it not for the in-
' terest of the Slave-holders to select, the free people

* See Freedom's Journal for November 2d, 1827—vol. 1, No. 34,

"of colour out of the different states, and send them
" to Liberia ? Will it not make their Slaves unea-
" sy to see free men of colour enjoying liberty ? It
" is against the law in some of the Southern States,
" that a person of Colour should receive an educa-
tion under a severe penalty. Colonizationists,
" speak of America being first Colonized, but is
" there any comparison between the two? America
" was colonized by as tvise, judicious and educated
" men as the world afforded. William Penn did
"not want for learning, wisdom, or intelligence. —
" If all the people in Europe and America were as
"ignorant, and in the same situation as our breth-
ren, what would become of the world; where
" would be the principle or piety that would govern
" the people? We were stolen from our mother coun-
" try and brought Acre. We have tilled the ground
" and made fortunes for thousands, and still they
" are not weary of our services. But they who stay
" to till the ground must be slaves. Is there not land
" enough in America, or " corn enough in Egypt?"
" why should they send us into a far country to die?
"See the thousands of foreigners emigrating to
" America every year : and if there be ground suffix
" cient for them to cultivate, and bread for them to
" eat 5 why would they wish to send the first tillers
"of the land away? Africans have made fortunes
"for thousands, who are yet unwilling to part with
" their services ; but the free must be sent away,
" and those who remain must be slaves. I have no
" doubt that there are many good men who do not
" see as I do ; and who are for sending us to Libe^
" ria, but they have not duly considered the subject —
" they are not men of colour. This land which we
" have watered with our tears and our blood, is now
" our mother country, and we are well satisfied to
" stay where wisdom abounds and the gospel is free.55
"RICHARD ALLEN,
" Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal
" Church in the United States S?

"- 58

I have given you, my brethren, an extract, verba-
tim, from the letter of that godly man, as you may
find it on the aforementioned page of Freedom's
Journal. I know that thousands, and perhaps mil-
lions of my brethren in these States, have never
heard of such a man as Bishop Allen — a man whom
God many years ago raised up among his ignorant
and degraded brethren, to preach Jesus Christ and
him crucified to them — who notwithstanding, had to
wrestle against principalities and the powers of dark-
ness to diffuse that gospel with which he was endow-
ed, among his brethren — but who having overcome
the combined powers of devils and wicked men, has,
under God planted a church among us which will be
as durable as the foundation of the earth on which
it stands. Richard Allen ! O my God l\ the bare
recollection of the labours of this man, and his min-
isters among his deplorably wretched brethren, (ren-
dered so by the whites,) to bring them to a knowl-
edge of the God of Heaven, fills my soul with all
those very high emotions, which would take the pen
of an Addison to portray. It is impossible my breth-
ren for me to say much in this work respecting that
man of God. When the Lord shall raise up col-
oured historians in succeeding generations, to pre-
sent the crimes of this nation, to the then gazing
world, the Holy Ghost will make them do justice
to the name of Bishop Allen, of Philadelphia. —
Suffice it for me to say, that the name of this very
man (Richard Allen) though now in obscurity and
degradation, will notwithstanding, stand on the pa-
ges of history among the greatest divines who have
lived since the apostolic age, and among the Africans
Bishop Allen's will be entirely pre-eminent. My
brethren, search after the character and exploits of
this godly man, among his ignorant and miserable
brethren, to bring them to a knowledge of the truth
as it is in our Master. Consider upon the tyrants
and false christians against whom he had to
contend, in order to get access to his brethren. —

gee him and his ministers in the State of New*
York, New-Jersey, Delaware,and Maryland, and in
fact as far into the South as he was allowed to go,
carrying the gladsome tidings of free and full sal-
vation to the coloured people. Tyrants and false
christians however, would not allow him to pene-
trate far into the South, for fear that he would awa-
ken some of his ignorant brethren, whom they held
in wretchedness and miseries — for fear, I say it,
that he would awaken and bring them to a knowl-
edge of their Maker. O my Master ! my Master ! !
I cannot but think upon Christian Americans !!! —
What kind of people can they be? Will not those
who were burnt up in Sodom and Gomorrah rise up
in judgement against Christian Americans with the
Bible in their hands, and condemn them'? Will
not the Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem, who
had nothing but the laws of Moses and the Prophets
to go by, rise up in judgement against Christian
Americans, and condemn them, who, in addition to
these have a revelation from Jesus Christ the
son of the living God? In line, will not the Anti-
deluvians, together with the whole heathen world of
antiquity, rise up in judgement against Christian
Americans and condemn them? The Christians of
Europe and America go to Africa, bring us away,
and throw us into the seas, and in other ways murder
us, as they would wild beasts. The Antideluvians
and heathens never dreamed of such barbarities. —
Now the Christians believe, because they have a
name to live, while they are dead, that God will
overlook such things. But if he does not deceive
them, it will be because he has overlooked it sure
enough. But to return to this godly man, Bishop
Allen. I do hereby openly affirm it to the world,
that he has done more in a spiritual sense for his ig-
norant and wretched brethren than any other man
of colour has, since the world began. And as for
the greater part of the whites, it has hitherto been
their greatest object and glory to keep us ignorant

of our Maker, so as to make us believe that we
Were made to be slaves to them and their children
to dig up gold and silver for them. It is notorious
that not a few professing christians among the
whites, who profess to love our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, have assailed this man and laid all the
obstacles in his way they possibly could, consistent
with their profession — and what for? Why, their
course of proceeding and his,clashed exactly togeth-
er— they trying their best to keep us ignorant, that
we might be the better and more obedient slaves —
while he on the other hand, doing his very best to
enlighten us and teach us a knowledge of the Lord*
And I am sorry that I have it to say, that many of
our brethren have joined in with our oppressors,
whose dearest objects are only to keep us igno-
rant and miserable, against this man to stay his hand,
However, they have kept us in so much ignorance,
that many of us know no better than to fight against
ourselves, and by that means strengthen the hands of
our natural enemies, to rivet their infernal chains of
slavery upon us and our children. I have several
times called the white Americans our natural ene-
mies— I shall here define my meaning of the phrase.
Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with their father
Noah and wives, I believe were not natural enemies
to each other. When the Ark rested after the flood
upon the mount of Ararat in Asia, they (eight) were
all the people which could be found alive in all the
earth — in fact if Scriptures be true (which I know
are) there were no other living men in all the earth,
notwithstanding some ignorant creatures hesitate not
to tell us that we (the blacks) are the seed of Cain,
the murderer of his brother Abel. But where those
ignorant and avaricious wretches could have got
their information, I am unable to declare* Did they
receive it from the Bible? I have searched the Bi-
ble as well as they, if I am not as well learned as they
are, and have never seen a verse which testifies
whether we are the seed of Cain or of AbeL —

Yet those men tell us that we are the seed of Cain $
and thatGod put a dark stainupon us that we might be
known as their slaves ! ! ! ! Now I ask those avaricious
and ignorant wretches,who act more like the seed of
Gain, by murdering, the whites or the blacks? —
How many vessel loads of human beings, have the
blacks thrown into the seas? How many thousand
souls have the blacks murdered in cold blood, to
make them work in wretchedness and ignorance, to
support them and their families? — However, let u&
be the seed of Cain,Harry,Dick or Tom ! ! ! God will
show the whites what we are, yet. I say, from the
beginning, I do not think that we were natural ene-
mies to each other. But the whites having made us
so wretched, by subjecting us to slavery and having
murdered so many millions of us, in order to make
us work for them, and out of devilishness — and they
taking our wives whom we love as we do ourselves —
our mothers who bore the pains of death to give us
birth — our fathers and dear little children, and our-
selves and strip and beat us, one before the other — ■
chain hand-cuff and drag us about like rat-
tle-snakes— shoot us down like wild bears, be-
fore each other's faces, to make us submissive to,
and work to support them and their families. They
(the whites,) know well, if we are men, and there is
a secret monitor in their hearts which tells them we
are, they know, I say, if we are men, and see them
treating us in the manner they do, that there can be
nothing in our hearts but death alone, for them 5
notwithstanding, we may appear cheerful, when we
see them murdering our dear mothers and wives, be-
cause we cannot help ourselves. Man, in all ages
and all nations of the earth is the same. Man is a
peculiar creature — he is the image of his God, though
he may be subjected to the most wretched condition
upon earth, yet that spirit and feeling which consti-
tute the creature, man, can never be entirely erased
from his breast, because the God who made him after
his own image planted it in his heart,he cannot get rid

of it. The whites knowing this, they do not know what
to do, they know that they have done us so much injury
they are afraid, that we, being men, and not brutes,
will retaliate, and woe will be to them, therefore,
that dreadful fear, together, with an avaricious spir-
it, and the natural love in them, to be called masters,
(which term we will yet honour them with to their
their satisfaction,) bring them to the resolve, that
they will keep us in ignorance and wretehedness, as
long as they possibly can, and make the best of
their time while it lasts. Consequently they, them-
selves, (and not us,) render themselves, our nat-
ural enemies, by treating us so cruel. They keep
us miserable now, and call us their property, but
some of them will have enough of us by and by —
their stomachs shall run over with us, they want us
for their slaves, and shall have us to their fill. (We
are all in the world together!!) I said above,because
we cannot help ourselves, (viz. we cannot help the
whites murdering our mothers and our wives)but this
statement is incorrect — for we can help ourselves, for
if welay aside abject servility & be determined to act
like men, and not brutes — the murderers among the
whites would be afraid to show their devilish heads.
But Oh ! my God— In sorrow, I must say it, that
my Colour all over the world, have a mean, servile
spirit. They yield in a moment to the whites, let
them be right or wrong. The reason the whites
are able to keep their feet on our throats. Oh ! my
Coloured Brethren all over the world, when shall
we arise from this death-like apathy ? — And be men! !
You will notice, if ever we become men, (I mean re-
spectable men as other people are,) we must exert
ourselves to the full. For remember, that it is the
greatest desire and object of the greater part of the
whites, to keep us ignorant, and make us work to
support them and their families — Here now, in the
Southern and Western Sections of this country,
there are at least three Coloured persons for one
white, why is it that those few weak, good for noth-

ing whites, are able to keep so many able men, one
of whom, can put to flight a dozen whites, in wretch-
edness and misery ? It shows at once, what the
blacks are, we are ignorant, abject, servile; and
mean — and the whites know it — they know that we
are too servile to assert our rights as men — or they
would not fool with us as they do. Would they fool
with any other people as they do with us ? No, they
know too well, that they would g et themselves
ruined Why do they not bring the inhabit-
ants of Asia to be body servants to them ? They
know they would get their bodies rent and torn
from head to foot. Why do they not get the Abo-
rigines of this country to be slaves to them and their
children, to work their farms and dig their mines ?
They know well that the Aborigines of this conti-
nent, or (Indians) would tear them from the earth.
The Indians would not rest day or night, they would
be up all times of night, cutting their cruel throats.
But my Colour (some, not all,) are willing to stand
still and be murdered by the cruel whites. In some
of the West- India Islands, and over a large part of
South America, there are six or eight blacks for one
white. Why do the blacks not take possession of
those places ? Who hinders them? it is not the Av-
aricious whites — for they are too busily engaged in
laying up money — derived from the blood and tears
of the blacks. The fact is, the blacks are too ser-
vile, they love to have Masters too well !!!!!!
Some of our brethren, too, who seeking more after
self aggrandizement, than the glory of God, and the
welfare of their brethren, join in with our oppressors,
to ridicule and say all manner of evils falsely against
our Bishop. They think, that they are doing great
things, when they can get in company with the
whites, to ridicule and make sport of those who are
labouring for their good. Poor ignorant creatures,
they do not know that the sole aim and object of the
whites, arc only to make fools and slaves of them,
and put the whip to them, and make them work to

support them and their families.— But I do say. that
no man, can well be a despiser of Bishop Allen,
for his public labours among us, unless he is a de-
spiser of God and of Righteousness. — Thus, we see,
my brethren, the two very opposite positions of those
great men, who have written respecting this " Colo-
nizing Plan," (Mr. Clay and his Slave-holding par-
ty,) men who are resolved to keep us in eternal
wretchedness, are also bent upon sending us to Li-
beria. While the Reverend Bishop Allen, and his
party, men who have the fear of God, and the well-
fare of their brethren at heart. The Bishop, in par-
ticular, whose labours for the salvation of his breth-
ren, are well known to a large'part of those, who dwell
in the United States, are completely opposed to the
plan. And advise us to stay where we are. Now we
have to determine whose advice we will take respect-
ing this all important matter, whether we will adhere
to Mr. Clay and his slave-holding party, who have
always been our oppressors and murderers, and who
are for colonizing us, more through apprehension
than humanity, or to this godly man who has done
so much for our benefit, together with the advice of all
the good & wise among us and the whites.— Will any
of us leave our homes and go to Africa? I hope not.
Let them commence their attack upon us as they
did on our brethren in Ohio, driving and beating us
from our country, and my soul for theirs, they will
have enough of it. Let no man of us budge one
step, and let slave-holders come to beat us from our
country. America is more our country, than it is
the whites — we have enriched it with our blood and
tears. The greatest riches in all America have
arisen from our blood and tears : — and will they
drive us from our property and homes, which we
have earned with our blood! They must look sharp
or this very thing will bring swift destruction upon
them. The Americans have got so fat upon our
blood and groans, that they have almost forgotten
the God of armies. But let them go on.

How cunning slave-holders think they are !!! — ■
How much like the king of Egypt, who after he saw
plainly that God was determined to bring out his
people, in spite of him and his, as powerful as
they were. He was willing that Moses, Aaron and
the Elders of Israel, but not all the people should go
and serve the Lord. But God deceived him as he
will christian Americans, unless they are very cau-
tous how they move. What would have become of
the United States of America, was it not for those
among the whites, who not in words barely,
but in truth and in deed, love and fear the Lord? —
Our Lord and Master said: — *u Whoso shall of-
4tfend one of these little ones which believe in me,
" it were better for him that a millstone were hang-
" ed about his neck, and that he were drowned in
" the depth of the sea." But the Americans with
this very threatening of the Lord's, not only beat his
little ones among the Africans, but many of them they
put to death or murder. Now the avaricious Ameri-
cans, think that the Lord Jesus Christ will let them
off, because his words are no more than the words of
man ! ! ! ! In fact,many of them are so avaricious and
ignorant, that they do not believe in ourLord andSav-
iour Jesus Christ. Tyrants may think they were
so skillful in State affairs is the reason that the gov-
ernment is preserved. But I tell you, that this
country would have been given up long ago, was it
not for the lovers of the Lord. They are indeed,
the salt of the earth. Remove the people of God
among the whites, from this land of blood, and it
will stand until they cleverly get out of the way,
I adopt the langugeof the Rev,Mi\S.E. Cornish,of
NewYork,editor of the Rights of All, and say : " Any
" coloured man of common intelligence,who gives his
" countenance & influence to that colony, further than
" its missionary object and interest extend, should be
" considered as a traitor to his brethren, and discar^

*See St. Matthew's Gospel, chap, xviii. v. 6,

K ded by every respectable man of colour. And every
" member of that society, however pure hig motive^
"whatever may be his religious character and mor-
" al worth, should in his efforts to remove the col-
" oured population from their rightful soil, the land
" of their bir|h and nativity, be considered as acting
"gratuitously unrighteous and cruel.55

Let me make an appeal brethren, to your hearts,
for your cordial co-operation in the circu-
lation of "The Rights of All," among us. The
utility of such a vehicle if rightly conducted, cannot
be estimated. I hope that the well informed
among us, may see the absolute necessity of their
co-operation in its universal spread among us. If
we should let it go down, never let us undertake any
thing of the kind again, but give up at once and say
that we are really so ignorant and wretched that we
cannot do any thing at all ! ! — As far as I have seen
the writings of its editor, I believe he is not seeking
to fill his pockets with money, but has the welfare
of his brethren truly at heart. Such men, brethren,
ought to be supported by us.

But to return to the colonizing trick. It will be
well for me to notice here at once, that I do not
mean indiscriminately to condemn all the members
and advocates of this scheme, for I believe that there
are some friends to the sons of Africa, who are labor-
ing for our salvation, not in words only but in truth
and in deed, who have been drawn into this plan. —
Some, more by persuasion than any thing else ;
while others, with humane feelings and lively zeal
for our good, seeing how much we suffer from the
afflictions poured upon us by unmerciful tyrants,
are willing to enroll their names in any thing which
they think has for its ultimate end our redemption
from wretchedness and miseries ; such men, with a
heart truly overflowing with gratitude for their past
services and zeal in our cause, I humbly beg to ex-
amine this plot minutely, and see if the end which
they have in view will be completely consummated

by such a course of procedure. Our friends who
have been imperceptibly drawn into this plot, I view
with tenderness, and would not for the world injure
their feelings, and I have only to hope for the fu-
ture, that they will withdraw themselves from it ;
for I declare to them, that the plot is not for the glo-
ry of God, but on the contrary the perpetuation of
slavery in this country, which will ruin them and
the country forever, unless something is immediately
done.

Do the colonizationists think to send us off with-
out first being reconciled to us? Do they think to
bundle us up like brutes and send us off, as they
did^our brethren of the State of Ohio ? Have they
not to be reconciled to us, or reconcile us to them,
for the cruelties with which they have afflicted
our fathers and us ? Methinks colonizationists
think they have a set of brutes to deal with, sure
enough. Do they think to drive us from our coun-
try and homes, after having enriched it with our
blood and tears, and keep back millions of our dear
brethren, sunk in the most barbarous wretchedness,
to dig up gold and silver for them and their children ?
Surely, the Americans must think that we are brutes,
as some of them have represented us to be. They
think that we do not feel for our brethren, whom
they are murdering by the inches, but they are
dreadfully deceived. I acknowledge that there are
some deceitful and hypocritical wretches among us,
who will tell us one thing while they mean another,
& thus they go on aiding our enemies to oppress them-
selves and us. But I declare this day before my Lord
and Master, that I believe there are some true hearted
sons of Africa in this land of oppression, but pretended
liberty! ! ! ! ! Who do in reality feel for their suffering
brethren, who are held in bondage by tyrants. Some
of the advocates of this cunningly devised plot of
Satan represent us to be the greatest set of cut
throats in the world, as though God, want us to
take his work out of his hand before he is ready. —

■■" 06

Does riot vengeance belong to the Lord ? Is he not
able to repay the Americans for their cruelties, with
which} they have inflicted Africa's sons and daugh-
ters, without our interference, unless we are order-
ed ? It is surprising to think, that the Americans,
having the Bible in their hands, do not believe it.
Are not the hearts of all men in the hands of the
God of battles 1 And does he not suffer some in
consequence of cruelties, to go on until they are ir-
recoverably lost ? Now, what can be more aggrava-
ting, than for the Americans, after having treated
us so bad, to hold us up to the world, as such great
throat cutters ? It appears to me as though they are
resolved to assail us with every species of affliction
that their ingenuity can invent. (tCpSee the African
Repository and Colonial Journal, from its commence-
ment to the present day— -see how we are through
the medium of that periodical, abused and held up
to the world by the Americans, as the greatest nui-
sance to society,and throat cutters in the world.) But
the Lord sees their actions. Americans! notwithstand-
ing you have and do continue, to treat us more cruel,
than any heathen nation, did a people it had subjected
to the same condition, that you have us. Now let us
reason* I mean you of the United States, whom
I believe God designs to save from destruction, if
you will hear. For I declare to you, whether you
believe it or not, that there are some on the conti-
nent of America, who will never be able to repent.
God will surely destroy them to show you, his dis-
approbation of the murders, they & you have inflicted
on us. I say let us reason,had you not better take our
body while you have it in your power, and while we
are yet ignorant and wretched, not knowing but a
little, give us education, and teach us the pure reli-
gion of our Lord and Master, which is calculated
to make the lion lay down in peace with the lamb,
and which millions of you have beaten us nearly to
death for trying to obtain since, we have been among
you, and thus, at once, gain our affection, while we
are ignorant ? Remember Americans, that we must

and shall be free and enlightened as you are, will you
wait until we shall, under God, obtain our liberty by
the crushing arm of power? Will it not be dreadful
for you ? 1 speak Americans for your good. Wc
must and shall be free I say,in spite of you. You may
do your best to keep us in wretchedness and misery,
but*God will deliver us from under you. And wo, wo,
will be to you if we have to obtain our freedom by
fighting. Throw away your fears and prejudices
then, and enlighten us and treat us like men, and
we will like you more than we do now hate you,*
and tell us no more about colonization, for —
America is as much our country, as it is yours. —
Treat us like men, and there is no danger but we
all will live in peace and happiness together. For
we are not like you, hard hearted, unmerciful, and
unforgiving. What a happy country this will be, if
the whites will listen. What nation under heaven,
will be able to do any thing with us, unless God
gives us up into its hand ? But Americans, I de-
clare to you, while you keep us and our children in
bondage, and treat us like brutes, to make us support
you and your families* we cannot be your friends*
You do not look for it, do you ? Treat us then like
men, and we will be your friends. And there is not a
doubt in my mind, but that the whole of the past,
will be sunk into oblivion, and we yet? under God,
will become a united and happy people. The
whites may say it is impossible, but remem-
ber, that nothing is impossible with God.,

The Americans may say or do as they please, but
they have to raise us from the condition of
brutes to that of respectable men, and to make a
national acknowledgment to us for the wrongs they
have inflicted on us. As unexpected, strange, and
wild as these propositions may to some appear, it is
no less a fact, that unless they are complied with,
the Americans of the United States, though they

* You are not astonished at my saying we hate you, for if we are
men, we cannot but hate you while you are treating us like dogs.

may for a little while escape, God will yet weigh
them in a balance ; and if they are not superior to
other men, as they have represented themselves to
be, he will give them wretchedness to their very
heart's content.

And now brethren, having concluded these four
Articles, I submit them, together with my Preamble,
dedicated to the Lord, for your inspection, in lan-
guage so very simple, that the most ignorant, who
can read at all, may easily understand — of which
you may make the best you possibly can — Should
tyrants take it into their heads to emancipate any of
you, remember that your freedom is your natural
right. You are men, as well as they, and instead
of returning thanks to them for your freedom, re-
turn it to the Holy Ghost, who is our rightful owner.
If they do not want to part with your labours which
have enriched them, let them keep you, and my
word for it, that God Almighty, will break their
strong band. Do you believe this my brethren? —
See my Address, delivered before the General Col-
oured Association of Massachusetts, which may b«
found in Freedom's Journal, for Dec. £0, 1828—
See the last clause of that Address. Whether you
believe it or not, I tell you that God will dash ty-
rants, in combination with Devils, into atoms, and
will bring you out from your wretchedness and mis-
eries under these Christian People ! ! ! ! ! !

Those philanthropists and lovers of the human
family, who have volunteered their services for our
redemption from wretchedness, have a high c]aLn
on our gratitude, and we should always view them
as our greatest earthly benefactors.

If any are anxious to ascertain who I am, know
the world, that I am one of the oppressed, degra-
ded and wretched sons of Africa, rendered so by
the avaricious and unmerciful, among the whites. —
If any wish to plunge me into the wretched incapac-
ity of a slave, or murder me for the truth, know
ye, that I am in the hand of God, and at your dispo-

sal. I count my life not dear unto me,but I am ready
to be offered at any moment. For what is the use
of living, when in fact I am dead. But remember,
Americans, that as miserable, wretched, degraded
and abject as you have made us in preceeding, and
in this generation, to support you and your families,
that some of you, (whites) on the continent of Amer-
ica, will yet curse the day that you ever were
born. You want slaves, and want us for your
slaves ! ! ! My colour will yet, root some of
you out of the very face of the earth ! ! ' ! ! f
You may doubt it if you please. I know that thou-
sands will doubt — they think they have us so well
secured in wretchedness, to them and their children,
that it is impossible for such things to occur. So
did the antideluvians doubt Noah, until the day in
which the flood came and swept them away. So
did the Sodomites doubt, until Lot had got out of
the City, and God rained down fire and brimstone
from heaven, upon them and burnt them up. So
did the king of Egypt doubt the very existence of
a God, he said, " who is the Lord, that I should
let Israel go?" Did he not find to his sorrow,
who the Lord was, when he and all his mighty men
of war, were smothered to death in the Red Sea? —
So did the Romans doubt, many of them were re-
ally so ignorant, that they thought the world of
mankind were made to be slaves to them ; just as
many of the Americans think now, of my colour. —
But they got dreadfully deceived. When men
got their eyes opened, they made the murderers
scamper. The way in which they cut their tyran-
cal throats, was not much inferior to the way the
Romans or murderers, served them, when they held
them in wretchedness and degradation under their
feet. So would Christian Americans doubt, if God
should send an Angel from heaven to preach their
funeral sermon. The fact is, the christians having
a name to live, while they are dead, think that God
will screen them on that ground.

: .12

See the hundreds and thousands of us that are
thrown into the seas by christians, and murdered by
them in other ways. They cram us into their vessel
holds in chains and in hand-cuffs — men, women and
children all together ! ! O ! save us we pray thee,
thou God of heaven and of earth, from the devour^
ing hands of the white christians !!!!!!

Oh ! thou Alpha and Omega \

The beginning and the end,
Enthroned thou art, in Heaven above,

Surroun'dby Angels there.

From whence thou see'st the miseries

To which we are subject ;
The whites have murdered us, 0 God !

And kept us ignorant of thee.

Not satisfied with this, my Lord !

They throw us in the seas.
Be pleased, we pray, for Jesus' sake?

To save us from their grasp.

We believe, that for thy glory's sake,

Thou wilt deliver us ;
But that thou may'st effect these things,

Thy glory must be sought.

In conclusion, I ask the candid and unprejudiced
of the whole world, to search the pages of Historians
deligently,and see if the Antideluvians — the Sodom-
ites— the Egyptians — the Babylonians — the Nine-
vites — the Carthagenians — the Persians — the Ma-
cedonians— the Greeks — the Romans — the Mahom-
etans— the Jews— or devils, ever treated a set of hu-
man beings, as the white Christians of America, do
us the blacks, or Africans.— I also, ask the attention
of the world of mankind, to the declaration of these
very American people, of the United States.

JL Declaration made July 4, 1776.

It says, *" When in the course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected them
with another, and to assume among the Powers of
the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle
them. A decent respect for the opinions of mankind
requires, that they should declare the causes which

impel them to the separation. We hold these

truths to be self evident — that all men are created
equal , that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights ; that among these,
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that,
to secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed ; that when ever any form
of government becomes obstructive of these ends, it
is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute a new government laying its
foundation on such principles, and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness. Pru-
dence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long
established should not be changed for light and
transient causes ; and accordingly all experience
hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they
are accustomed. But when a long train of abu-
ses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
object, evinces a design to reduce them under abso-
lute despotism, it is their right it is their duty to
throw off such government, and to provide new
guards for their future security.55 See your dec
laration, Americans ! ! ! Do you understand your
own language? Hear your language, proclaim-
ed to the world, July 4, 1776— pQ39" We hold
" these truths to be self evident — that ALL men

*See the Declaration of Independence of the United States,

" are created EQUAL !! that they are endowed
" by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ;
" that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
"of happiness!!'' Compare your own language
above, extracted, from your Declaration of Inde-
pendence, with your cruelties and murders in-
flicted by your cruel and unmerciful fathers and
yourselves on our fathers and on us — men who have
never given your fathers or you the least provoca-
tion!!.^!

Hear your languagejfurther ! |CF*"But when a
"long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
" invariably the same object, evinces a design to re-
" duce them under absolute despotism, it is their
" rights it is their duty, to throw off such govern-
" ment, and to provide new guards for their future
"security."

Now, Americans ! I ask you candidly, was your
sufferings under Great Britain, one hundrenth part
as cruel and tyranical as you have rendered ours
tinder you? Some of you, no doubt, believe that
we will never throw off your murderous gov-
ernment and "provide new guards for our future
" security.55 If Satan has made you believe
it, will he hot deceive you?* Do the whites
say, I being a black man, ought to be humble, which
I readily admit? I ask them, ought they not to be
as humble as I? or do they think that they can meas-
ure arms with Jehovah? Will not the Lord yet
humble them? or will not these very blacks, (my
colour) whom they now treat worse than brutes, yet
under God, humble them low down enough? Some
of the whites are ignorant enough to tell us, that we
ought to be submissive to them, that they may keep
their feet on our throats. And if we do not submit
to be beaten to death by them, we are bad creatures
and of course must be damned, &c. If any mail

*The Lord has not taught the Americans that twe will not some
day or other throw off their chains and hand-cuffs, from our hands
and feet, and their devlish lashes (which some of them shall hav«
enough of yet) from off our backs.

wishes to hear this doctrine openly preached to us hy
the American preachers,let him go into the Southern
and Western sections of this country.— I do not
speak from hear-say— what I have written, is what
I have seen and heard myself. No man may think
that my book is made up of conjectures — I have trav-
elled and observed nearly the whole of these things
myself, and what little I did not get by my own obser-
vation, I received from those among the whites and
blacks in whom the greatest confidence may be placed
The Americans may be as vigilant as they please,
but they cannot be vigilant enough for the Lord,
neither can they hide themselves, where he will not
find and bring them out.

1 Thy presence why withdraw'st thou, Lord 1

Why hid'st thou now thy face,
When dismal times of deep distress,
Call for thy wonted grace ?

2 The wicked, swell'd with lawless pride,

Have made the poor their prey ;
O let them fall by those designs
Which they for others lay.

3 For straight they triumph, if success

Their thriving crimes attend ;
And sordid wretches, whom God hates,
Perversely they commend.

4 To own a pow'r above themselves,

Their haughty pride disdains ;
And therefore in their stubborn mind
No thought of God remains.

5 Oppressive methods they pursue,

And all their foes they slight ;
Because thy judgments unobservM,
Are far above their sight.

6 They fondly think their prosp'rous state

Shall unmolested be ;
They think their vain designs shall thrive,
From all misfortune free.

7 Vain and deceitful is their speech,

With curses fill'd, and lies ;
By which the mischief of their heart
They study to disguise.
3 Near public roads they lie eonceal'd,
And all their art employ,

The innocent and poor at once
To rifle and* destroy.

9 Not lions, couching in their dens,
Surprise their heedless prey
With greater^ unning, or express
More savage rage than they.

10 Sometimes they act the harmless mans

And modest looks they wear ;
That so deceived, the poor may less
Their sudden onset fear.
FART II.

1 1 For God they think, no notice takes

Of their unrighteous deeds
He never minds the suffering poor,
Nor their oppression heeds.

12 But thou, 0 Lord, at length arise,

Stretch forth thy mighty arm ;
And by the greatness of thy pow'r
Defend the poor from harm.

13 No longer let the wicked vaunt,

And, proudly boasting, say,
*• Tush, God regards not what we do ;
" He never will repay."1 — Common Prayer Book,

1 Shall I for fear of feeble man,
The Spirits course in me restrain ?
Or, undismayed in deed and word,
Be a true witness of my Lord.

2 Aw'd by mortal's frown, shall I
Conceal the word of God Most High!
How then before thee shall I dare
To stand, or how thine anger bare ?

6 Shall I to sooth th5 unholy throng,
Soften the truth, or smooth my tongue,
To gain earth's gilded toys or flee
The cross endur'd, my Lord, by thee ?

7 What then is he whose scorn I dread ?
Whose wrath or hate makes me afraid,
A man ! an heir of death ! a slave
To sin ! a bubble on the wave !

8 Yea, let men rage : since thou wilt spread
Thy shadowing wings around my head :
Since in all pain thy tender love

i Will still my sure refreshment prove.

Wesley's Collection.

Errata.— Page 34, 9th line from the top, read his son did not learn instead,
of did learn. Also, same page, 8th line from the top, in the word width there is
a small typographical error.

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Full text of "Walker's appeal, in four articles, : together with a preamble to the colored citizens of the world, but in particular and very expressly to those of the United States of America. Written in Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, Sept. 28th, 1829"

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